Overview of Physical Therapy

Jump to a topic:

• Professional responsibilities
• Is physical therapy a possible career for you?
• Professional education
• Required coursework
• College major

Professional responsibilities

Physical therapists:

• Improve patients' strength and mobility
• Restore function
• Relieve pain
• Prevent or limit permanent disabilities
• Help people reach their health goals
• Work closely with the patient and other health care providers
• Provide instruction and home programs to patients

Is physical therapy a possible career for you?

Do the following words/phrases describe you? If so physical therapy may be a good fit:

• Enjoys working with people
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Detail-oriented
• Strong communication skills
• Would like to work with other health care professionals
• Interested in assessing, restoring, treating and enhancing patients' physical functions.
• Would like a well-compensated career ($66,200 national median salary)

Professional education

• Degrees Offered: Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), Master of Physical Therapy (MPT)
• Years of Study: most programs are 2 to 3+ years
• B.S./B.A. degree required for admission to the majority of programs
• Graduates of accredited PT programs must pass a state licensure exam in order to practice

Required coursework

Courses required for admission vary significantly from one institution to another. The following courses are mentioned frequently as being required and/or recommended by over 50% of PT programs:

• Anatomy and physiology (minimum one course)
• Chemistry (minimum one course)
• Physics (minimum two courses)
• Statistics (minimum one course)
• Psychology
• Biology (minimum one course)

Other courses that may be required less than 50% of the time by PT programs:

• English composition
• Social science
• Humanities
• Exercise physiology
• Human development
• Kinesiology
• Organic chemistry
• Research methods
• Cell biology

For information on specific physical therapy programs' requirements:

• List of PT programs and their course requirements
• Chart for all PT programs admission requirements - "Course Prerequisites Summary"

Some courses may not be available at Northwestern University and may have to be taken elsewhere.  We encourage you to meet with a health professions adviser to discuss PT programs and course requirements.

College major

Physical therapy students come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds.  Applicants are not required to major in "pre-physical therapy" or any other specific major in college to be eligible for admission to a PT program.  However, because PT programs vary so much in required coursework, students should begin researching possible programs early to determine if their choice of major will fulfill all or most of the PT program requirements.