Physiotherapy – Good Or Poor Profession Decision?

I’ve been a physiotherapist for six years in Australia. In gait analysis , physiotherapy is pretty difficult to get into through a university. For instance, the TER score (score following you finish your higher college certificate) was 93 in 2000. That was the third highest score to apply for through university. Now, you may well consider that the larger the difficulty to apply, the greater the prestige, earnings and satisfaction the job will be. You assume so proper? Incorrect!

Let me tell you, physiotherapy or physical therapist as a career decision is not what you think. I came to consider when doing the course I anticipate a high revenue and higher levels of satisfaction, but from my practical experience and other folks this is totally wrong. I have buddies who have been performing physiotherapy for more than 5 years who have changed careers since they believed physiotherapy will get them nowhere. I’ve been told by 1 of the board members of the physiotherapy association that there is no physiotherapist functioning full time in a private practice above 45. So it appears numerous physiotherapists are not satisfied with their career.

So why is it that lots of physiotherapists are not satisfied with their careers? I can give you three excellent motives.

First is the earnings. Our revenue is around $60-70k year on average, but the ceiling for physiotherapist to get is around $one hundred-110k a year (which is rare) if operating for an individual or in the public sector. Now in the private sector (functioning in your own practice) you can make significantly additional, about $100k or greater. But setting up and functioning in the private sector price cash and it is incredibly highly-priced. You have to pay rent, gear, labor and many other expenses. So in the finish, you may possibly not make significantly since of all the costs.

Second is the level of satisfaction. You may well assume assisting folks get better makes you happier, it does. But there are quite a few much more people today who don’t get greater. Also, the job that you do in physiotherapy is very monotonous it is either doing assessment, electrotherapy, exercises or hands on work (which I generally call massage). Folks who operate as a physiotherapist will most most likely have hand, wrist or back discomfort simply because the job needs you to do repetitive movements or awkward postures most of the time. For instance bending down to treat a patient on a bed,

Third is security. If you do added courses or have masters degree to specialize in physiotherapy, most likely that will not assure you additional earnings or status. There is a lack of differentiation amongst an experienced physiotherapist or an inexperienced physiotherapist in terms of spend. Also, the future of physiotherapy as a profession is overtaken by other overall health experts such as chiropractors and even nurses.

This is due to incompetence of the physiotherapy board and association of pushing our status in government and general public opinion into insignificance. It appears that the physiotherapy association has no lobbyist in the government or insurance coverage sector thereby cutting our status as a overall health qualified. For instance, insurances are cutting physiotherapist prices and solutions (for instance HBA in the UK) as they see physiotherapy as not crucial. In the lengthy term, physiotherapy as a profession will die out and overtaken by other well being experts.

So is physiotherapy a superior or undesirable profession option? I say most absolutely not a very good career option. But this is my opinion. If you want to get one more person’s opinion, see your physiotherapist or a particular person who is operating in your career.