Going through life can be a roller coaster of emotions and sooner or later you may get hurt. Whether sports-related or not, injuries can have a variety of impacts on someone's life. Physical therapy can help athletes overcome and prevent injuries, encouraging them to work harder, allowing them to pursue their dreams, and without the pain stopping them. Physical therapy focuses primarily on preventing and treating injuries and preventing life-threatening injuries, which allows for an alternative to surgery and can also save money. Physical therapy is underrated, but it is one of the most influential medical fields because it prevents, treats and rehabilitates athletic and non-athletic injuries, allowing people to return to supporting their families. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Education, the most important part of becoming a physical therapist, making sure you treat a patient correctly and in the best way possible. Quoting Dr. Kyle Tanamachi, “becoming a physical therapist involves seven years of school,” allowing physical therapists to learn the best techniques to help an injured individual. To become a physical therapist you must attend physical therapy school and obtain a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) and work long volunteer hours. As you can see, there are many steps to becoming a physical therapist and all the years of dedication and hard work in trying to help others is inspiring. Dr. Ryan Kauffman, a physical therapist specializing in the spine, demonstrates a hard-working mentality. Through his hard work, he opened his own business in Milpitas, called Thrive Milpitas; his successes describe how working hard allows you to accomplish millions of things and never give up. Stretching is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of physical therapy, but it's more than just sitting and trying to touch your toes. Physical therapy is the rehabilitation of a certain injury and by strengthening one's body, people can return to their daily lives while supporting society and the economy. Physical therapist Michelle Nomura stated in an interview that “PT benefits society by helping injured people return to function so they can once again contribute to their families and society. PT helps the economy by decreasing the use of narcotics and helping to reduce patient pain” (Email interview with Nomura). Ms. Nomura, a kind, knowledgeable, and passionate physical therapist at Fyzical Therapy and Balance Center-Fremont; she first became interested in physical therapy at age fifteen, when she injured her knee, and her physical therapist influenced her so much that she decided to make it her career. Physical therapists not only rebuild your strength, but build a strong relationship with their patients. The feeling Ms. Nomura gets when she helps her patients makes her love her career. Not only does he do his job for his patients, but he also gets the feeling of accomplishment and knowing he helped someone. Equivalent to Ms. Nomura, Dr. Kyle Tanamachi was also influenced by physical therapy. Likewise, they share the love of feeling fulfilled, of knowing that someone is healed, and of returning to what they love. Dr. Tanamachi also mentioned how being a physical therapist influenced him to be “a more compassionate and caring person” (telephone interview with Tanamachi). All physiotherapists work to ensure a speedy recovery, allowing patients to return to the world as thebetter version of themselves. Bringing me to the next point, physical therapists help people return to their daily lives, which benefits society. In addition to this, lowering the cost of painkillers and reducing the quantity sold brings significant benefits to the economy. The risks of taking opioids outweigh the benefits, and with a high risk of addiction and overdose, physical therapy is the smartest option when choosing to treat pain (“Physical Therapy vs. Opioids”). The common use of massage, traction and exercise has become a watershed moment thanks to the decrease in overdoses and prescriptions. Since physical therapy is an alternative, the thought of helping people who may become addicted and overdose is heartwarming. The fact that physical therapy can save lives makes the work ten times more worth pursuing, and knowing that you are benefiting society is miraculous. As a physical therapist, bonds are built with your patients and the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming. Heidi was diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and had seventy one-hour sessions a year with physical therapists. Because she was there so often, she built a bond with her therapist, and her therapist knew her better than anyone. Her therapist would help her overcome her anxieties and insecurities, allowing her to move forward and be the best she could be (“Why You Shouldn't Neglect Physical Therapists”). Similarly to Heidi, Gabrielle Calabretta, an athletic trainer specializing in sports therapy, expressed that "after spending so much time with them it is a moment of great pride for me to see the athlete return to practice his sport after all the work we have done Done". both contributed to accelerating the healing process” (Calabretta Email Interview). When a physical therapist can see one of his long-time patients finally return to work, he knows that what he is doing is right and is encouraged to continue helping other athletes. It's hard to imagine a world without physical therapists, without people who specialize in guiding us towards recovery. They help repair and rehabilitate numerous injuries, from rotation, to shoulder, to hips and even rehabilitate stroke victims. According to “The Good Body” there is a 72% success rate in physical therapy treatment which allows people to return to their families and support society. It's hard to imagine not having these people around to guide us, and according to Dr. Kauffman, "drug companies would have more demand, people would need more prescription drugs, and the price of drugs would go up and up." (Email interview with Kauffman). Agreed, physical therapists have such an impact on the medical field that the world would suffer without them. As Dr. Kauffman had mentioned, painkiller prices would skyrocket because so many people would need them. Along with prices, the quantity sold would also increase dramatically, not to mention the increase in overdoses and addiction. Physical therapists are so valuable in today's society that they prevent a great deal of addictions and overdoses, overall, saving lives. Everything today costs money, there is no way to escape it. Medical care is something that people are asking for to be cheaper, but right now it's very expensive. Physical therapy acts as a way to save money by preventing expensive surgeries and providing overall benefits to the economy. As Ms. Nomura, Dr. Kauffman, Dr. Tanamachi, and Gaby mentioned, physical therapy helps prevent injuries and limits money spent. TheHospital stay costs $3,494 per day and surgeries cost an average of $15,734 (Fay). It is common for people to not have the money to undergo surgery or treatment, but physical therapy allows that person to get treatment. Physical therapy sessions average $150, much cheaper than the combined $19,228 for surgery and a single night in the hospital. As you can see, physical therapy is an alternative to surgery and an effective way to save money. Physical therapy is a heavily science-based field, where you will focus on the human body, anatomy, chemistry, and even physics. Most physical therapists have a bachelor's degree in some sort of scientific field, commonly biology. The more you know about the human body and how it works, the more accurate and knowledgeable you would be as a physical therapist. It is necessary to know how each muscle and bone works to develop a treatment plan for each specific patient (email interview with Nomura). Not everyone has the same injury, so treatment plans are made for each individual person, allowing them to get the best treatment possible. There are different types of physical therapy, each specializing in a different aspect of the body. For example, Dr. Kauffman specializes in the spine and back and is the only doctor authorized to manipulate and adjust the spine (email interview with Kauffman). All the different types of physical therapists all have one goal: to make their patients feel better and get them back to their daily lives. Not all is well in physical therapy, there is a lot of paperwork and not all patients will want to cooperate with what they are told. Ms. Nomura stated that “a person's mindset is important to their recovery” (email interview with Nomura) and not all patients will want to help themselves. It is the therapist's job and drive to motivate their client and sometimes act like a psychologist to motivate a speedy recovery. Athletes, for example, don't want to be told "you need to rest" or "no sports until it heals," because it makes them feel like they're not just letting their team down but themselves. Physiotherapists can assure them that by being healthy you can give more than you could ever give to your team (Tanamachi telephone interview). Older, working adults, on the other hand, won't have the same mindset as an athlete who wants to get back on the field. Some adults will find an excuse not to work with their therapist and improve themselves. With the help of physiotherapists adults can return to their families and work, but above all return to supporting society. Without physical therapists, there would be more injured people in the world spending money on expensive treatments that might not even work. Physical therapists have the greatest impact on society, but are probably the most underrated medical profession. Due to the number of people physical therapists help and the low number of people in this profession, it is safe to say that physical therapists are undervalued. Physical therapists spend at least seven years in school trying to become doctors in this field. They have the greatest impact on an individual and receive no credit. “Each year, half of Americans over the age of 18 will develop a musculoskeletal injury that lasts more than three months” (Klepps), which means there will be a need for physical therapists. Not all superheroes wear a cape, but to get the recognition they deserve, they probably should. They prevent surgery, which completely shortens the rehabilitation process (interview.