DESCRIPTION:
Jesse goes behind the scenes with Renee to find out what a day in the life of a Physiotherapist (or physical therapist) is all about.
For more information about a career in physiotherapy check out the Student Edge career page here: https://studentedge.org/career-life/find-a-career/physiotherapist

What does it take to become a Physiotherapist?

Physiotherapists assess, treat and prevent disorders in human movement caused by injury and disease. They may work as part of a healthcare team, independently in private practice or as industry consultants.

Renee chats about why she became a Physio, the job prospects, what characteristics and courses it takes to become a physio.

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Transcript

I think I need to see a physio. You know every professional sports team has a physiotherapist and fore most they're the first person you run or hobble to if you've got an injury. That's because they assess and treat injuries as well as trying to prevent them from happening again. And they don't just treat sports muscular injuries, they treat all sorts of pain and medical reasons. Well let's go try find one. They can assist with neurological conditions, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries and even chest conditions like emphysema and asthma. I think I might have just twinged my back so I must admit my motivation for meeting and chatting to a physiotherapist is slightly selfish. So while we're learning with a physiotherapist actually does, I'm hoping Renee Fish can sort my back out.

You must be Renee.

I am hi Jesse how are you going?

I'm good i'm chasing physiotherapy, do you think you can help me out? Definitely come around this way.

What does a typical day for a physiotherapist look like?

There's no typical days as a physio. Because we treat any kind of body part, any condition as well, depending on the patient comes in with nothing is ever the same, every patient is individual. We also work across at the hospital so we may see people after they've had an operation, after they've had a baby or they've got chest problems.

Cool, so what did you want to become a physiotherapist?

I had no idea what I want to do when I graduated high school. I was looking through the university course guides one day and I came across the physiotherapy section how to read and thought the sounds sound like me applied to my strength. Is there much work out before? There's a lot of work out there, so we've got hospital, you've got community-based, you've got sports clubs and we've got private practices, a huge range of the physiotherapy jobs out there.

And so what is the hardest part of the job?

The hardest part of the job would be knowing that some patients can't be fixed, they can't be cured. What they have is progressive so it's going to get worse. I do get some comfort in knowing with those people I can in some way make their life or their quality of life at least a little bit easier.

Would that be the most rewarding part of the job actually fixing someone?

It is yeah, knowing that you've helped someone overcome whatever condition they had, that's definitely the best part is when patience thank you sincerely.

So if i wanted to get into physiotherapy what one piece of advice you would give me?

I would definitely say make sure you put the effort at uni, so make sure you study hard, it's not an easy course but it's definitely extremely rewarding.

What characteristics does someone need to be a physio?

Definitely have good interpersonal skills good time management skills you need to be able to motivate people. I think the biggest ones that you need to have good problem solving and analytical skills as well.

Cool, and so from school to today how do you get to where you are?

At school it's best to kind of study the subjects which are the prerequisites which is usually physics or human biology. You need to put your preferences down for your unis, once you get accepted you can enrol and then the study starts.

And so if you could end up where you are today but do one thing differently what would that be?

Definitely be studying harder when I was at uni yep so it would make it so much easier, less pressure on myself as well huh.

Awesome well thanks so much for talking to us today. But yeah, I've got a bit of a sore back and how about a message?

Sure let's have a look.

So there you have it. If you're physical person, like working with people and good with your hands, maybe physio is the thing for you. For more information and to get involved hit up studentedge.org