There we were about to score the winning goal when all of a sudden I heard someone let out an intense cry of pain. Usually when a player goes down in soccer, it is something small that they can just “walk off,” like a cramp or a rolled ankle, but this scream sent chills through my body. I could hear the anguish and pain that she was in. I turned in the direction of the cry and saw one of my teammates on the ground rolling from side to side, clutching her knee in agony. I instantly averted my eyes because it was too much to bear to see a friend in excruciating pain. I realized that it was probably a torn ACL that would require surgery and months of rehabilitation with a physical therapist.

I saw her a few months later after her surgery and she said that she was going to physical therapy five times a week. She told me that the regimen was often extremely rigorous and painful, but it helped to increase the strength of her knee and it would eventually restore her mobility. At that moment, I knew I wanted to become a physical therapist. A physical therapist seems like the perfect job for me because I like helping people and a physical therapist helps people help themselves. To learn more about physical therapy, I met with Dr. Glenn Taira at the Kaiser Permanente physical therapy clinic.

Dr. Taira had a very unique story about why he became a physical therapist. It started like this, “I was sitting down one day and I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do and I was watching TV and I saw this episode of ‘Spencer For Hire.’ ‘Spencer for Hire’ was this TV show and he got shot in the shoulder and went to physical therapy. And I thought, ‘Gee…this is kind of interesting.’ So I researched it a little bit more and got a job at an on campus clinic. I kind of liked it so I just pursued it. While I’m perusing it, the academic advisor who is supposed to be the one telling you, ‘These are the things you need to do,’ she told me, ‘You should choose another profession because I doubt if you are going to get into (physical therapy) school.’ So I kind of just said, ‘Okay, s____ you. I’m just going to do it.’”

As Dr. Taira explained, a physical therapist’s job is to provide preventive, restorative, and rehabilitative treatment for patients to help them regain their mobility, alleviate their pain and suffering, and prevent permanent disabilities. Rehabilitation programs involve flexibility, strengthening, endurance, coordination, and agility exercises. In addition, physical therapists must explain to their patients how to correctly perform the exercises at home and encourage them to never give up. Or, as the Careers Internet Database describes it, “As a physical therapist, you’re a cheerleader, a taskmaster, the one they’ll hate for months, and the one they’ll thank for a lifetime.”

In preparation to become a physical therapist, Dr, Taira advises high school students to study hard, earn good grades, and do volunteer work. While attending high school, students can gain experience by volunteering as a physical therapist’s aid or working with their school sports trainer. When choosing a college to attend, he recommends, “the cheap ones…the one you can get accepted to and the one you can afford. Most schools are going to be pretty darn good if they are accredited. If you are rich and get plenty money, go for the best. ” Acceptance to a physical therapy school is very competitive.

The minimum educational requirement to become a physical therapist is a master’s degree, which takes about four to five years of schooling. However, the trend is to obtain a doctorate of physical therapy, which takes an average of six years to complete. Two years are spent on your undergraduate, the next two years at physical therapy school to complete your bachelor’s degree, an additional year for your master’s degree, and the final year for your doctorate. Usually, the school you attend has contracts arranged with physical therapy clinics to provide volunteer work and internship opportunities.

In addition to schooling, a physical therapist should possess the following people skills: empathy, dedication, cheerfulness, high energy level, patience, and nurturing. Integrity, strong work ethic, adaptability, and creative thinking are other important characteristics of a successful therapist. Often times a patient’s treatment is tedious, painful and demanding causing them to want to give up. As a physical therapist, you must consistently offer reassurance and positive support to keep them motivated to continue their therapy.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 2014 the employment rate for physical therapists is expected to increase. It is predicted that if the number of students enrolled in accredited schools stays the same, there will be more job openings than physical therapists. However, Dr. Taira says the local job market is tight at the moment. In Hawaii, we only have 10 major hospitals and a physical therapist works an average of 30 years, so there are few job openings.

Dr. Taira stated locally a physical therapist could earn anywhere from $40,000 up to a six-figure salary. For his first job, his annual income was $42,000. In a hospital or a clinical setting the pay increases to about $80,000 and in private practice, physical therapists have an opportunity to be paid a six-figure salary.

A typical day for a physical therapist involves seeing about 20 patients with diverse injuries. They evaluate new patients, check the progress of existing ones, discuss treatment plans with their patient’s physician, and document the session. Dr. Taira’s day begins at 6:30 am and ends around 7 pm. “I work an 11-hour day. The number of patients I see ranges from the high teens to low thirties and anywhere from two to seven new patients a day. It’s a lot better now, in the past two years, it has gotten significantly better where two years ago my assistant and I were seeing upwards of 40 to 50 patients a day. And at least six to seven new patients everyday.”

Like any career being a physical therapist has its negative side. They may work long hours like Dr. Taira who works an 11-hour day to accommodate their patient’s schedule. It is also an extremely physically demanding job. Imagine lifting a 300-pound football player’s leg to stretch and manipulate his muscles, but the player is resisting you the entire time because of the extreme pain. Besides being physically challenging, it can be emotionally draining, as the patients are in pain and have limited mobility so they need constant encouragement. Often times they are frustrated and discouraged, so it can be stressful on the physical therapist to constantly maintain a positive attitude. Unless the therapist learns how to cope with the stress of always putting on a “happy face” of encouragement, it can affect the therapist’s own health and wellbeing.

However, no matter how demanding and stressful the work can be, it is also very rewarding. According to Dr. Taira, the most gratifying part about this job is showing people what they can do. “I like this job because it is not the same old thing everyday. I interact with people. I listen to people saying, ‘Ow, I’m sore here today’ or ‘I’m sore there today’ all day. It’s very rewarding when you can show these people, ‘Yeah, you can actually do something about what is happening and you are in a lot more control than what you really realize’…Seeing that people can actually get back on their own again is pretty rewarding.” The main goal of being a physical therapist is to help people help themselves and when you accomplish this goal, you realize that all the work and effort paid off. Being a physical therapist is a mix of hard and frustrating work, but the reward of restoring someone’s quality of life is immeasurable.

As for my friend, it has been seven months of rehabilitation and she will soon be cleared to play soccer again. She is so anxious and excited about returning to soccer that she is a constant chatterbox about it. With the assistance of her dedicated physical therapist, she can be the awesome soccer star again blazing down the field scoring goals. His helping hands, encouraging words during the difficult and painful times, and his successful treatment regimen gave our team back one of our best players!