Many undergraduate students who are interested in a career within physical therapy wonder if they are able to apply to PT school if they have a physical disability. Physical disabilities can range largely in both the type of disability as well as the extent of disability, so it’s important for any potential applicant to understand that there will be baseline competencies set in place by the school that must be met in order for the individual to be considered physically able enough to pursue PT school and a subsequent career within the field.

The quick answer

PT schools implement technical standards that must be met by any potential student wishing to be admitted into the school. These standards include a combination of psychomotor competencies, communication abilities and decision-making requirements.

Some aspiring students with minor disabilities may therefore be able to pursue physical therapy school if the student can meet the competencies set in place by the institution. However, a physical disability that is severe enough to prevent a potential student from meeting these competencies (which are set in place to ensure safety to both the student/therapist and the patient) will result in the denial of entry into PT school.

The key points for this article

• Competencies are set in place by the school in order to ensure maximal safety to both the student and any potential patients they may wind up treating in the clinic.
  
• The Competencies also ensure that any successful applicant can perform what are considered routine demands of physical therapy (regardless of the area of specialty or designation within the field). These routine demands involve communication abilities as well as physical tasks that require adequate strength, coordination, balance and both gross and fine motor skills.
  
• Competencies may vary slightly from one school to another, but they will require the same types and extents of abilities for the potential applicant to meet.
  
• Ultimately, it comes down to the type and extent of the physical disability the individual has and whether or not it would interfere with the routine demands of the occupation or compromise patient safety. If the applicant can meet the competencies set in place, then they can be admitted into the program, provided they meet all other application criteria.

PT schools have certain essential psychomotor competencies, communication and clinical decision-making requirements that need to be met by the student

While the exact requirements may be different from one school to the next, every school will require potential students to meet a baseline drawing upon both physical and non-physical abilities.

The reason why these competencies exist are for two primary reasons:

1. To ensure that the student/therapist as well as any potential patient that they would treat will be able to remain safe at all times.
   
2. To ensure that the student/physical therapist can effectively perform and carry out multiple types of demands that are considered routine for the occupation.

An example of baseline competencies for PT school:

• Community-level mobility over a three city-block radius with or without accommodation of ambulatory or mobility aid.
  
• From a seated position, the ability to lift an object (equivalent to a ten-pound sack of potatoes) a vertical height of 16 inches and thereafter replace it with precision to its initial resting position without any accommodation.
  
• The ability to turn over five small disks (approximately the size of five quarters) with hand precision and efficiency without vision of the discus and without accommodation.
  
• The ability to orally communicate a grammatically correct and cogent interpretation of a common proverb within a time period of three minutes.
  
• The ability to fluently and sequentially describe and efficiently demonstrate the motor planning required to perform a familiar task such as tying one’s shoe or wrapping a package.

The above list were the requirements mandated by my PT school in order to be admitted into the program.

It’s important to note that schools have competencies set in place, however they may not actually carry out this testing on applicants. These competencies are oftentimes outlined within the school’s application process, and all applicants are to sign off stating that they are both aware of the competencies set in place and are able to meet them. Being admitted into a program but then being unable to fulfill these competencies will likely result in dismissal from the program.

Reason 1: The primary demand for adequate physical ability is to ensure you and your patients will always be as safe as possible.

Safety of the physical therapist

Safety is king, especially in the world of physical therapy. Healthcare workers, (which includes physical therapists) are at an above average risk for sustaining personal injury within their work environments due to the physical demands that are often required of them when working with patients.

Providing physical assistance to patients can at times require extensive amounts of physical strength and endurance on the therapist’s part, and since it must often be done on a daily repeated basis, therapists must have the physical ability to meet these demands.

When the therapist does not have adequate strength or movement ability, their likelihood for sustaining a personal physical injury greatly increases. Physical therapists who are injured not only experience pain that likely could have been prevented through adequate strength and movement ability, but they are also unable to then perform their work-related tasks, rendering the therapist being unable to work.

Safety of the patient

In addition to keeping the therapist safe, the patient’s safety must never be compromised either. In a profession that aims to improve the physical abilities and functions of the human body, the first step that begins with treatment of every patient is eliminating the potential for any further harm to occur.

Physical rehabilitation presents many opportunities for further injury to occur to a patient if all precautions are not continually met. Patients are often physically vulnerable in unique ways, based on their condition or injury status. As a result, they are prone to all sorts of further potential for injury, such as tripping, falling, experiencing a medical episode, running out of adequate strength or endurance when performing rehabilitative tasks, and so on.

A physical therapist must be able to perform any or all needed physical interventions to not only prevent these issues from occurring, but also to act quickly and effectively to restore patient safety if such an issue does occur.

Patients may also have unique cognitive statuses that require the therapist to be able to communicate in clear, concise and effective ways. While these types of demands are not physical, they are still considered a core competency that must be met by the therapist.

Reason 2: The profession of physical therapy can be very physically demanding at times

Sometimes, applicants fail to understand just how physically demanding the role of a physical therapist can be. While some designations within the profession (such as being a paediatric specialist, or a geriatric specialist or an orthopedic clinical specialist, etc.) may be more physically intensive than other designations (such as pelvic-floor health or integumentary-based PT), it is important to understand that all specialties within the field of physical therapy will require physical demands.

In addition to physical strength and endurance, therapists may often be required to have adequate amounts of physical mobility in order to help carry out treatment techniques, specific interventions or even for helping patients perform assisted exercises.

Examples of physical demands based on specialties

Therapists working in paediatrics have a high degree of need for being able to get down onto the floor when working with children, be it for performing treatments, assisting with exercises or games, or simply to help the child get down and back up safely. They oftentimes also need to pick a child up in order to physically carry them, help them with a transfer or for a variety of other reasons.

Therapists working with geriatrics or neurologically-based patients (such as those recovering from stroke or other neurologically-based issues) will be required to help them transfer to and from different surfaces. They may also require high levels of assistance when ambulating (walking). These patients often have a high fall risk due to weakness and/or poor balance. The therapist will often times need extensive amounts of personal strength, balance and mobility to assist these individuals with various tasks and exercises.

Therapists working in orthopaedics may spend a large portion of their day performing manual therapy treatment techniques to various body parts of their patients. The need for being able to perform precise and/or forceful movements on a regular basis will thus be required.

Concluding remarks

Successful entry into a PT school and subsequent DPT program within the US is dependent upon a number of different factors, one of those many factors being able to meet the typical physical demands that are required within the profession of PT itself. These physical demands consist of both large, gross motor (movement) abilities (such as full body mobility and strength) as well as small, fine motor (movement) abilities such as using one’s hands to pick up, move and use smaller objects.

These competencies are set in place to ensure safety of the individual wanting to become a physical therapist as well as the safety of any patients they would be treating. Some specialties within the field of physical therapy will require more daily physical demands than others, but there is a reasonable amount of physical challenge that occurs for all physical therapists, regardless of their specialty.

If an applicant wishing to become a physical therapist can meet the competencies set out by the respective school they wish to consider applying to (the competencies may vary slightly from one school to another), they will then be considered an eligible candidate, provided that all other application criteria (completion of prerequisite coursework, adequate GPA, etc.) is met.