Occupations/29-1123.00
Physical Therapists
Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury.
Usually a graduate or professional degree.
AI automation risk
24%
More resilient
Human characteristics
78%
Strong human-characteristic mix
Task orientation
47%
Mixed exposure
A day in this job
- Mostly human
Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- Mostly human
Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- Mostly human
Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
The tasks we can read here lean on people, judgment, or hands-on work. The AI risk number is still this job’s rank against other occupations.
Core tasks
- 01Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
- 02Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
- 03Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
- 04Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
- 05Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
- 06Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
Model drivers (O*NET 1–5)
- Repeating same tasks3.75
- Degree of automation1.31
- Time sitting2.34
- Originality (ability)3.00
- Conflict situations3.20
- Hands-on objects/tools3.44
- Outdoors / weather1.34
- Disease exposure3.68
- Decision freedom4.75
Top abilities
- Written Comprehension4.00
- Oral Expression4.00
- Oral Comprehension4.00
- Written Expression3.88
- Problem Sensitivity3.88
- Information Ordering3.88
- Inductive Reasoning3.88
- Deductive Reasoning3.88
Essential skills
- Reading Comprehension4.00
- Active Listening4.00
- Writing3.88
- Speaking4.00
- Mathematics2.12
- Science2.62
- Critical Thinking4.00
- Active Learning3.12
- Learning Strategies3.12
- Monitoring3.88
CIP matches
Schools offering related programs
12 of 50 shown
Earnings are College Scorecard medians for that program, 1 and 2 years after completion. A dash means the Department suppressed the cell or the campus is not in the field file.
| Institution | Program | Tuition | Admit | Grad 6-yr | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $68,200 | 12% | 92% | 1 yr $74,576 2 yr $73,823 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private nonprofit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $68,200 | 4% | 96% | 1 yr $74,234 2 yr $68,219 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $8,200 | 77% | 71% | 1 yr $73,635 2 yr $71,015 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
Lincoln College of Technology-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Private for-profit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $18,600 | 100% | 64% | 1 yr $72,083 2 yr $72,320 Doctoral · CIP 51.23 |
Milwaukee Area Technical College Milwaukee, WI · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $4,900 | 100% | 27% | 1 yr $71,575 2 yr $71,225 Doctoral · CIP 51.23 |
Emory University Atlanta, GA · Private nonprofit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $60,800 | 11% | 91% | 1 yr $68,698 2 yr $67,173 Professional · CIP 51.23 |
New York University New York, NY · Private nonprofit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $60,400 | 12% | 88% | 1 yr $66,355 2 yr $69,547 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
Boston University Boston, MA · Private nonprofit | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $65,200 | 14% | 89% | 1 yr $65,651 2 yr $67,101 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $6,400 | 23% | 89% | 1 yr $64,307 2 yr $69,673 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $12,800 | 53% | 83% | 1 yr $61,253 2 yr $63,692 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
University of Kansas Lawrence, KS · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $11,400 | 88% | 67% | 1 yr $60,771 2 yr $53,775 Master's · CIP 51.23 |
North Dakota State University Fargo, ND · Public | Physical Therapy/Therapist 51.2308 | $10,900 | 96% | 68% | 1 yr $57,995 2 yr $59,011 Master's · CIP 51.23 |