“I’m interested in becoming a physical therapist, what does that require?”

A common question among my patients is how much school I attended to be a physical therapist. The short answer is that 6-7 years of education are required after high school to become certified as a physical therapist. Graduating physical therapists are required to obtain their DPT, or Doctor of Physical Therapy, degree. This is a clinical doctorate which would be similar to a dentist who receives his or her DMD. Practicing physical therapists who obtained their license with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree have the option of returning for additional schooling to complete their Doctorate.

Some schools across the United States have accelerated programs through which graduating  high school seniors are accepted into an expedited 6 year program that combines 3 years of undergraduate and 3 years of graduate school work. This is a good option for students who know prior to college that they want to pursue physical therapy as a career. Otherwise, and most typically, students will obtain a bachelor’s degree from a 4 year college/university before applying to physical therapy school which is an additional 3 years. The bachelor’s degree can be in any subject as long as the student has taken the appropriate pre-requisite courses required to apply to PT school. These vary slightly among schools but typically include 1-3 core courses each of biology, chemistry, physics, math, psychology and anatomy as well as writing courses. For most schools the student must have also completed a significant number of hours (typically 50-250) of shadowing experience in a physical therapy setting, and most schools like this experience to take place over multiple settings (outpatient, hospital, nursing home, etc).

Once accepted to physical therapy school students will complete a vigorous coursework designed to prepare them to be experts in the musculoskeletal system. Students are also trained to recognize and screen other body systems for dysfunction that may require referral to an appropriate outside source. They must also complete multiple clinical experiences in order to get on-site practice of clinical and decision making skills under the guidance of a certified physical therapist who acts as their clinical instructor. Following graduation the student must pass the National Physical Therapy Exam which is offered four times per year. If a passing score is achieved on the exam, licensure is under the authority of individual states. In Pennsylvania, the license must be renewed every 2 years and requires 30 hours of continuing education over the previous 2 years for renewal.