Within any medical profession there are certain specialties an individual might pursue. Finding a job in a chosen specialty means being able to apply education and experience in an area that most interests the medical professional. The field of physical therapy is no exception. There are specialties for skilled nursing, brain injury cases, and prosthetic use, among other things. Of all the specialties, one of the more intriguing is in the area of sports. Physical therapy employment in sports-related environments has been gaining in popularity among PT professionals. In a good number of physical therapy employment opportunities, the therapist takes a job knowing he or she will be doing most of their work with people who already have mobility issues. These issues may be due to illness, accident, or any number of other causes. But in bringing physical therapy into the locker room, practitioners are learning ways to help athletes perform better at a reduced risk of injury. In other words, helping them prevent injuries to begin with.
One example is hamstring injuries among track runners and football players. Coaches have long taught such athletes to increase their stride and speed by extending their forward leg and pulling the rest of their body forward. Mechanically, this sounds like a reasonable proposition. Yet physical therapy has shown that the hamstring of the forward leg becomes fully extended at peak stride, making it a high risk for injury as it contracts on the way through. The hamstring is simply not designed for such stress. An alternative training method has been developed in order to continue producing the same results without the high risk of injury. This method is simplistic in similarity to the pull method - in fact, it's just the opposite. Athletes using it are trained to push with the back leg while extending the forward one, taking the stress off the extended hamstring.
Through this simple analysis of running and body function, physical therapy is able to reduce the need for injury rehab by reducing the number of hamstring injuries. This is but one example of the exciting opportunities in sports-related physical therapy employment. The opportunity to help injured athletes return to the game, side-by-side with teaching them new methods to avoid further injury, is attractive. It a physical therapist's dream come true. Not that working with ambulatory or surgical patients is any less rewarding; but for therapists who have an affinity for sports, it is a great opportunity. Finding sports-related physical therapy employment is not as easy as some other specialties. The sheer number of PT job seekers in proportion to the available sports jobs makes it difficult to land one. But therapists willing to start in another area until a sports job becomes available will find they still gain a lot of experience and knowledge that will be helpful throughout their careers. If you're a PT looking to find work in the sports industry, contact a medical staffing agency for more information. They will be abreast on all available physical therapy employment opportunities.
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