Running Head: PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY 1

Professional Philosophy: A future Physical Therapist

Danielle Prowell
Foundations of Physical Activity
College of Western Idaho
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At the age of 21, I consider my professional philosophy as having many years of future

professional experience from which to fully mature. My current professional experience, beyond

my own formal education with College of Western Idaho, is based around a peripheral secretarial

role within a transitional rehabilitation facility. I am currently employed with Aspen Transitional

Rehabilitation Center where I process medical orders and perform audits on current physical

therapy visits that take place throughout the week. This allowed me the opportunity to better

figure out and focus in on which direction I may want to go with my professional and

philosophic ideals.

One of my most favorite experiences in the area of physical therapy is a ride along I was

able to experience with a Physical Therapist (PT), and PhD recipient, named Diva Lamotte. She

is a well-experienced PT that was able to illuminate some of the areas of the PT discipline to

which I was not previously aware. This includes both positive and negative experiences. One of

the positive experiences that I noted during my ride along experience was that patients were truly

responsive and invested to interact with the PT interventions given by Diva. Patients were so

thankful to have someone that showed as much vested interest in their well being as they did for

themselves. Most patients would light up at the chance to get out of their recliner or bed to take

those first steps of recovery.

We made several visits all over the Treasure Valley to visit 4 different patients. One of

the negative aspects about being a physical therapist for a home health care company is that your

schedule includes much time behind the wheel. And, in some cases, the traffic in the Treasure

Valley can be brutally time consuming depending on time of day and direction. Even though

this was a negative aspect of my ride along, I recognize that other physical therapy service lines

are able to practice within one therapy location. Aspen Transitional Rehabilitation offers all
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therapies without having to drive anywhere. This has shaped my thoughts about where I am

headed with my physical therapy future.

In order to be a well-rounded future physical therapist, a full historical understanding of

physical therapy, kinesiology, fitness, and sport is required. According to the American Physical

Therapy Association (APTA) (2018), the first association for physical therapist was created in

1921. The name of this organization gave a formal title to group of women that had not been

recognized for their effect prior. This also gave some insight into the struggles that women

experienced in the professional work environment in the early parts of the 19th century.

As our country went full steam into a second World War, physical therapist increased in

overall demands. Organizations like The American Women Physical Therapeutic Organization

(AWPTO) increased in size to over 8,000 members. I feel a kinship with the strong women that

led the way in the face of much diversity and backlash as they progressed as a female led

organization in the 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. It could not been easy for the women that beat a new

path.(APTA, 2018). In the 1960’s, the organization reached 15,000 members, and is upwards of

95,000 members according to present day numbers (APTA, 2018).

Kinesiology was founded by a Michigan chiropractor named Dr. Goodheart. What an

aptly named physician to use his own empirical knowledge to start a movement focused on how

the human body moves through its surrounding environment. He saw the healing effect of

educating his clients over how to proper utilize body mechanics to prevent chronic and acute

debilitating issues. Dr. Goodheart went on to use and teach his techniques all over the world.

According to College of Kinesiology (2018), many of Dr. Goodheart’s pupils went on to educate

their own respective pupils, clients, and patients all over the globe.
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The history of physical fitness and sport has a breadth to wide to fit into this paper. I

have decided to give more attention to the developing future of sports & fitness rather than get

lost in past. As we progress forward as a society, we find ourselves relying on sport and fitness

as a form of entertainment, stress relief, and conversation. Sports & Fitness are, and continue to

be, big business around the globe. In fact, Sports and fitness have been modified, and some

would say tainted by the invention and use of performance enhancing drugs. We are living in the

age of super humans that compete at the top level. This cohort prides themselves on pushing the

human body to limits and extremes (Military.com, 2018). Something to add to my future

physical therapy practice is that some people make sports & fitness unhealthy.

All things change! This is universally true for physical therapy interventions, goals, and

approaches used to build the framework of care. Take The Movement System for example. The

movement system promotes improvement by considering all of the bodies systems holistically as

a comprehensive that has to be working together for proper physical functioning (APTA, 2018).

Knowing that movement is a complex behavior that requires more than just muscles and bone to

coordinate, physical therapist create goal to improve the entire system. I think shows why PTs

were relied upon so heavily during the years of the World War II. The vast majority of health

care providers were men at that time, many of which were called to support the war efforts in

Europe. Someone with the holistic knowledge, like that of a physical therapist would have been

relied upon to provide some form of medical care for people without access to a Medical Doctor.

Physical therapists evaluate the individual for any and all acute illness that may be

affecting a person’s ability to move about and perform their activities of daily living. They come

up with a plan by pairing individual diagnosis and prognosis to an individual care plan. This will
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ultimately help that individual get back to life as they formally knew it to be. Goals are set to

either keep the baseline or improve from a previously established baseline (APTA, 2018).

In order to become a physical therapist much formal education is involved. Dedication to

the profession is a must to dedicate that kind of time and effort. Two years of college is required

to become a physical therapist assistant (PTA). A PTA works under a physical therapist to assist

with patient care plans and tracking results. He or She reports directly back to the physical

therapist whose license in which they are working under. In order to practice individually, a

PTA must obtain the experience and formal education required to obtain a master or doctorate

with a physical therapy focus (APTA, 2018). Once graduated from an accredited PT program,

that person will then need to apply for and pass a state board examination before seeing patients

under their own license (APTA, 2018). Once board certified, educated, and experienced, a

physical therapist can make up to 85,000 per year depending upon experience and per capita

location.

After a self-review of my current skill set, I think I have a lot to offer the physical

therapist service line. As with any health care service line, integrity and professionalism is of the

utmost importance. I practice these values in my daily life and certainly believe these values to

be and overarching aspect of my professional philosophy. I also find a key aspect to my still

young professional life is that I can handle the expectation set forth to me by my employer. I

look forward to progressing the challenges that will be presented to me in my practice in the

future as a physical therapist. More specifically, my professional philosophy is improved by a

sense of social responsibility to my friends, family, neighbors, and my local & global

community. These are just some of my qualities that I hope to be well accepted by the physical

therapy community, both from my academia and professional cohorts.

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This paper and class have forced me to research and think about my professional careers,

goals, and philosophies. One of my professional philosophical goals is to further my knowledge

of those women that cleared a path and fought hard to make everyone aware of how important

women were, and still are, to the development of our medical system, more specifically physical

therapy.

Another goal of mine is to proudly obtain a terminal degree in physical therapy, which

will allow me to open doors into areas of physical therapy that I may not even be able to realize

at this current time in my development and life. I would like to first graduate from CWI with

honors and move on to Boise State University to ultimately earn a physical therapy Doctorate

degree. Ultimately, I would like to end up working with geriatric patients that may have lost site

of what quality of life they can still achieve with the right therapy plan. I would like to work and

run a transitional unit similar to the one I work for currently. It is a unique model that only

accepts therapy patients for short term rehabilitation. The facility I work for now does not accept

long term care patients which focuses the interventions and goal of current residents. It is a

focused type of therapy that I would really like to part of beyond my current role. One last goal

is to become the therapist that clients request if they have to come back. I would like them to

write in about the inspirational time they had during therapy.

In conclusion, while my professional philosophy is nowhere near at its full maturity, I am

excited about all of the time I have to learn, try, and adopt from experienced instructors and

mentor along the way. I have also learned that my professional philosophy will ultimately

change and mature with time and experience. I am truly excited about how my journey

becoming a physical therapist will add to my overall professional and personal philosophy. This
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has been a positive experience that has taught me to look back periodically at how my

professional philosophy has changed over time.

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References

American Physical Therapy Association (2018). APTA history. Retrieved from

http://www.apta.org/History

College of Kinesiology (2018). History of Kinesiology. Retrieved from http://www.kinesiology

college.edu.au/history-of-kinesiology

Military.com (2018). The Evolution of Fitness In America. Retrieved from https://www. Military

.com/military-fitness/equipment/evolution-of-fitness-in-america