Physical Rehabilitation Technician

If you injure your neck or back during a physical activity, who can you turn to for therapy and rehabilitation treatment? A physical rehabilitation technician, who works under the direct supervision of a physiotherapist, will help rescue your body and through a rehabilitation program, help restore your injured body part. Physical rehabilitation technicians aid in the implementation of treatment programs designed to improve or maintain clients' abilities to function independently.

Physical rehabilitation technicians teach and motivate patients to learn or improve necessary activities such as walking, climbing and general mobility. They watch patients during treatment and record and report their progress to physical therapists. They also fit patients for and teach them to use corrective equipment, which may be braces or artificial arms and legs or supportive devices such as wheelchairs.

Physical rehabilitation technicians aid people who have been injured or ill return to a healthy lifestyle. They also help those with permanent disabilities to try and achieve the highest possible level of physical function. Their patients include accident victims, (for example, someone that needs to learn how to walk again), people with disabling conditions such as arthritis, lower back pain, body fractures, heart disease, head injuries, and cerebral palsy.

Physical rehabilitation technicians' duties vary from one position to another. For example, they may work in out-patient clinics with clients who have orthopedic problems, in extended care settings with geriatric clients, or in hospital settings with patients who have a variety of disorders. Whatever the setting, they work under the direction and supervision of physical therapists to help people heal from their injury or function well with their disabilities. Physical rehabilitation technicians perform all of the same hands-on work that physical therapists train them to do. The main difference is that technicians cannot evaluate a patient or prescribe an exercise routine. Instead, they act on the physical therapist's instructions for each individual client and work directly with the patient in a rehabilitative fashion, supervising the progress and writing notes about each treatment session.

Physical rehabilitation technicians employ numerous methods to treat their patients and get them back to a state when they were able to move freely and properly. These rehabilitation techniques include stretching, therapeutic exercises, massage, hydrotherapy, and manipulations, such as joint mobilization. They teach patients specific stretches and exercises to perform everyday at home; thereby allowing the patients to take a more active role in their recovery and therapy process. They also perform ultrasounds, use microwave machines, infrared and ultraviolet lamps, and laser equipment.

Physical therapy is the long-term type of rehabilitation, so assistants must help therapists encourage their patients to be patient, practice the stretches, attend treatments religiously. A bone does not heal overnight. Physical rehabilitation technicians are also health educators, and they teach their patients about their body so that they can try to prevent future injuries or pain.



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Physical Rehabilitation Technician

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