Confused with PT - Would really appreciate your help!

[mconnect26]

I have been interested in PT for many years and keep circling the field because I'm very moved by it the work you do and how you empower lives. I'm also fascinated by neuroscience, anatomy, and physiology, which is why I'm confused that something isn't clicking with a rehab career...

I have shadowed a lot of PTs in various settings and worked as rehab aide for OTs on acute/transitional/rehab units and unfortunately felt like a lot of the work I was assisting with was very repetitive and didn't feel engaged by it, on top of all of the paperwork/charting that it felt like most therapists were doing, and the quotas they had to reach.

I've thought that if I could do a combination of working with people and doing research, that could be a nice balance for me, but unfortunately I don't feel like there are a lot of options for that. While I am very interested in some of the research that's going on in the field, I also don't feel like being a PhD/Principal Investigator is a good fit for me because I feel like you're taken away from actually working with people and are mostly in meetings, writing grants, or publishing. Would really appreciate some perspective. Thank you!

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[wiseOldPT]

You can be a research PT. Some of this is part time- you treat patients like a "normal" PT part of the time and work on research projects the other part. This can mean being an assessor for a research study or delivering a rehab intervention that is being investigated. You most commonly find this sort of position at large rehab hospitals with academic affiliations. Many labs in rehab sciences or human motor neuroscience also employ PTs, sometimes full time, for these needs. If affiliated with PT schools, these positions might have the opportunity to also do some teaching.

Also remember, no career/job is 100% perfect. There are parts of every job that suck. For treating therapists, that is charting/dealing with insurance. And while you might really not feel engaged by what you saw, also remember you were experiencing it through untrained eyes. The therapist may be more engaged as they are noting subtleties in movement that you aren't trained to see yet.

If you do decide to purse PT, it does sound like you are interested in the science/research behind it. While a lot on this board say all schools are the same and go to the cheapest (the cost I agree with!), schools do vary drastically in how much active research is going on there and opportunities to be involved. For this reason, I'd recommend a PT school in a large academic setting for you, and look into the sort of capstone research experiences offered. But cost does still matter.