The clothing attire that a physical therapist will wear in their work place (most often times a clinical environment – but not always) can largely vary depending on their specialized designation within the field of physical therapy. This variation in attire is due to the fact that there can be unique job demands and/or features to each type of environment where the therapist is employed.

Despite this variability in job demands or features within the working environment, nearly all physical therapists, regardless of their specialty, have the primary job requirement consisting of the need to move freely while simultaneously ensuring comfort and safety to both themselves as well as their patients.

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• Clothing attire based on type of PT environment

• Clothing requirements for inpatient settings
• Shoes and footwear for inpatient environments
• Jewelry restrictions within the inpatient environment

• Clothing requirements for outpatient settings
• Shoes and footwear for outpatient environments
• Jewelry restrictions within the outpatient environment
• Appropriateness of clothing within the outpatient environment

• Clothing requirements for in-home or homecare PT’s
• Footwear requirements and jewelry restrictions for in-home PT’s

• Concluding remarks

Clothing attire based on type of physical therapy environment

There are generally three main job environments that will dictate what a therapist may be required to wear for their work attire. It is important to note that there are sub-categories within each of these two main job environments that may continue to dictate what the therapist can wear. As a universal rule across all categories, PT’s do not wear shorts for work attire, unless working in unique environments or settings that may be considered excessively hot.

The three main categories are:

1. Inpatient settings
2. Outpatient settings
3. In-home or home care settings

Clothing requirements for inpatient settings

An inpatient setting refers to a facility where the patient who is being treated by the therapist stays at the treatment facility overnight for one or more days. These types of facilities can include facilities such as:

• Hospitals (either in specialized hospital wings or stand-alone rehabilitation hospitals)
• Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF’s)

PT’s who work within inpatient settings may wear various types of attire, but they most often wear either scrubs or flexible work pants and a polo top.

Scrubs are often worn in hospital-based settings and skilled-nursing facilities since the types of patients treated within the inpatient realms may have other ongoing medical issues that can result in the therapist’s clothing becoming soiled when needing to physically assist or work with the patient. It may not make much sense for the therapist to wear traditional work attire within this type of environment if there is a moderate or high likelihood that the therapist’s attire may become soiled when treating patients throughout the day.

PT’s may choose not to wear medical scrubs, however, if their patient caseload involves working with patients who are not likely to have bodily fluid issues during therapy treatments.

Clothing attire within the inpatient setting may also be dictated by the policies of the individual facility where the PT is employed.

Shoes and footwear for inpatient environments

Since therapists working within in-patient settings tend to work with populations who are more vulnerable to falling down, slipping, etc., the therapist needs to wear shoes or footwear that provide very stable grip on the floor. This helps the therapist to have a stable surface for when a patient may need assistance from the therapist to stay upright or safely transfer from one surface to another. Footwear with a good grip on the floor also helps keep the therapist safe from slips and falls if they have to suddenly change their position to help or assist the patient they may be working with.

Since most inpatient facilities have tiled flooring (allowing for easier clean-up when fluids may need to be cleaned off of the floor), footwear that has high-grip rubber sole surfaces is essential. Therefore, formal dress shoes are often not sufficient within these environments.

When it comes to socks, dress socks are usually the way to go. If you want to get some fun comments on your socks, grab a pair of these clever X-ray socks (link takes you to Amazon).

Jewelry restrictions within the inpatient environment

Since the therapist working within the inpatient setting is oftentimes required to maintain physical contact with the patient or be in very close proximity to them, it is important that the therapist does not wear jewelry that may scratch, cut or otherwise inadvertently harm the patient.

The therapist must also be sure to not wear any jewelry that may cause injury to themselves when working with patients. Loose, dangling necklaces, bracelets or earrings with large hoops or that dangle excessively can be grabbed or snagged (either accidentally or purposely) by the patient, resulting in potential injury to the therapist.

Clothing requirements for outpatient settings

Outpatient settings refer to a facility where the patient who is being treated by the therapist comes to the facility from home (or other living quarters) and arrives by themselves or by being assisted by another individual (such as a family member or caretaker). These types of facilities can include:

• Professional buildings
• Private buildings

Outpatient settings largely involve treating individuals who do not have ongoing medical issues that may result in uncontrolled bodily fluid functions. As a result, therapists within the outpatient settings may choose to either wear dress slacks with a polo-styled top or button-up dress shirts. Some clinicians within these environments may even wear a tie.

Different outpatient clinics/companies may require specific attire that is mandated for each employee to wear within the respective facility. These requirements can range from having to abide by general guidelines to being required to wear very specific attire (such as certain coloured dress pants and/or a polo shirt with the company logo embroidered onto it, etc.).

Shoes and footwear for outpatient environments

Therapists working in outpatient facilities tend to have a bit more freedom in selecting their type of footwear, but they will still need to ensure that it provides adequate grip and stability for whichever type of flooring they have within their clinic.

While their primary patient-population may not require as much physical physical assistance (assisting with walking, transferring from one surface to another, etc.) when compared to inpatient settings, each therapist will still need to ensure that they able to provide adequate physical assistance to patients if needed while simultaneously ensuring their own individual safety in the process.

Jewelry restrictions within the outpatient environment

Jewelry may also be dictated by the individual clinic policies, however, if there are no specific restrictions within the clinic, the therapist still needs to ensure that any jewelry they choose to wear will not pose a risk to their patients or themselves when interacting closely with the patient or when performing any hands-on assistance or treatment techniques.

Appropriateness of clothing attire within the outpatient setting

Physical therapists must ensure that clothing they wear is not unintentionally too revealing based on positions they may need to adopt or activities they may need to perform when treating patients

Outpatient physical therapy often requires the Physical Therapist to perform tasks such as leaning over the patient when performing manual therapy techniques or sitting and kneeling on the ground when demonstrating exercises for their patients.

As a result, these positions may predispose the therapist to unintentionally reveal their undergarments if they wear clothing that is not designed to prevent this from occurring. This largely applies to female therapists, but can apply to male therapists as well. As a result, shirts with a low cut front end or skirts are not appropriate for therapists within any clinical environment.

It is also worth mentioning that while this largely applies to outpatient settings, it also applies to inpatient settings where the PT is not wearing medical scrubs or a mandated uniform of some type.

Clothing requirements for in-home or Home Care PT

In-home PT (also known as home health PT or Home care PT) is a type of physical therapy service in which a Physical Therapist visits the home or living residence of a patient and performs PT treatment within their living quarters. This type of service is is provided for individuals who demonstrate need for physical therapy services but for health-related (or potentially other) reasons are unable to safely arrive at and attend outpatient therapy.

Therapists who perform in-home therapy services generally wear attire similar to physical therapists working in dedicated inpatient facilities. They may choose to wear scrubs if their patients may have difficulty controlling bodily fluids, or may choose to wear flexible dress pants with a polo top.

Footwear requirements and jewelry restrictions for in-home PT

Physical Therapists who perform in-home therapy services must abide by the same principles as inpatient and outpatient therapists in regards to wearing appropriate footwear and refraining from wearing safety-compromising jewelry. Since patients who are being treated with in-home services may have ongoing co-morbidities (other ongoing medical issues in addition to their need for physical therapy), therapists must take appropriate precautions when performing all therapy interventions.

Concluding remarks

The style of clothing that a physical therapist may be required to wear can largely vary based on their type of clinical practice and/or the governing dress code policies laid out by the facility.

The one universal feature of clothing attire for PT’s however, is that they must wear clothing that allows them to move comfortably while still being dressed in a professional manner that is appropriate for the environment that they work within. This includes clothes that are not too revealing based on any positions that the therapist may have to assume when performing treatment with patients or performing activities within the clinic/facility.

All of these combined aforementioned factors allow the therapist to perform necessary duties that are part of the occupational demands while also maximizing patient safety and comfort with whomever they treat.