Career Colleges » South Dakota » Health, Medical, and Nursing » Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation
Looking for accredited career colleges, technical schools, and universities in South Dakota offering Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation degrees. Physical therapy can increase mobility, and prevent permanent physical disabilities. Other physical therapists work in sports clinics and for sports teams.
This ancestral home of the Sioux nation is sure to be a great place to pursue a college education. South Dakota college students enjoy a wide variety of extracurricular activities, including exploring wind caves, visiting incredibly dinosaur fossil sites, and re-living the life of the Old West, with dude ranches, horseback riding establishments, and rodeos.Therapeutic rehabilitation programs consisting of therapeutic exercises, manual therapeutic techniques and guidelines for progressive return to their prior level of activity.
Occupational therapy and physical therapy focus on helping people get back on their feet, sometimes literally. After an accident or debilitating illness, some patients discover that they can't perform many of the routine functions to which they were accustomed. An occupational or physical therapist will help patients slowly rebuild atrophied muscles, increase range of movement, strengthen weakened bones, and overcome various psychological or emotional hurdles whenever necessary. Rehabilitation is usually a very slow process, and as such, those who want to become an occupational therapist or physical therapist must develop tremendous patience and understanding.
Physical therapy is a regulated profession that requires licensing and certification. As such, most clinics will only hire those who have graduated from rehabilitation and therapeutic programs. In these programs, one typically learns medicine, anatomy, physiology, massage therapy, physical therapy, heat therapy, hydrotherapy, diet & nutrition, yoga, chiropractic medicine, counseling, psychology, plus so much more. Because injuries and illnesses come in all shapes and sizes, a competent physical therapist must have a wide range of disciplines under his or her belt in order to provide optimal care to patients.
According to the US Department of Labor, career opportunities for this particular occupational group will grow much faster than the national average for most other occupations. Like many professions in health care, physical therapists will enjoy extremely favorable growth as baby boomers transition into old age and retirement. Suffice to say that the current median salary of $60,000 a year will rise accordingly as demand for more physical therapists increases.
Source: US Department of Labor