Career
Physical therapists
Help people move, recover and live without pain.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
- Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on people & care, then ideas & analysis?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
7–8 years of education after high school (doctoral or professional degree), for a median of $102,760 a year and 13,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Physical Therapy/TherapistCIP 51.2308
- Kinesiotherapy/KinesiotherapistCIP 51.2311
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Physical Therapist Assistants$68,380 · +23.0%
- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians
- Occupational Therapists$100,330 · +14.8%
- Physical Therapist Aides$35,240 · +4.0%
- Occupational Therapy Assistants$72,300 · +21.5%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.