Physical therapy is a health care speciality concerned with treating disorders of the musculoskeletal system and it's interaction with physical movement. Physical therapists are licensed professionals who hold a master’s or doctorate degree in physical therapy.

Physical therapists work with people that have sustained disabilities, impairments, or limitations in their overall physical function. Physical therapy uses non-invasive and non-medical tools to help improve total body function. Physical therapists focus on relieving pain, promoting healing, restoring function and movement, and facilitation and adaptation associated with injury.

Therapy also focuses on ergonomics or body mechanic training, fitness, and wellness. These deviations can be the result of disease, injury, or pathological processes. Physical therapists examine, evaluate, diagnose, develop treatment plans, and provide prognosis for each patient on an individual basis. Physical therapists work to restore function, improve mobility, and decrease pain with the goal of re-establishing a patient’s prior functional level. Physical therapists focus on the evaluation of strength, balance, range of motion, co-ordination, endurance, and posture of each individual patient.

From this initial examination, the physical therapist then develops a treatment plan specific to correcting pertinent physical findings. Each patient’s individual treatment plan is geared toward reaching specific rehabilitation goals that are set by the therapist and the patient together as a team. However, the physical therapist will help in determining realistic goals through their knowledge of pathology and prognosis.

Rehabilitation strategies often involve specific exercises to stretch and strengthen muscles as well as to improve posture, balance, and endurance. Over the course of the rehabilitation period physical therapists document progress, re-evaluate physical findings, and modify treatment strategies as appropriate. Physical therapy is a conservative treatment method addressing the management, healing, and prevention of injuries and disabilities.