Continuing Education Physical Therapy

Maintain Your License To Practice With Continuing Education Physical Therapy

Anyone who has known the pain of rehabilitation after an accident, or who has a debilitating disease, or simply has chronic back or muscle pain, has been to a physical therapist and experienced the wonders of some of their technology and exercises. However, despite the many years of training and required degrees that a physical therapist must endure, if you do not go through regular continuing education physical therapy classes, your license could expire. To update your skills and keep your business alive, be sure to stay on top of your licensing requirements.

Becoming A Physical Therapist

To become a physical therapist, you need a minimum of a 2 year master's degree to be allowed to practice. Some students also opt to get their 3 year doctorate degree, which will prepare them for more advanced positions, like management or administration. You must ensure that the physical therapy education you get is from a school accredited by the American Physical Therapy Associationís Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, because only accredited school graduates are eligible to take the licensing exam.

Getting Licensed

Once your degree program is complete, it is mandatory in all 50 states to become licensed. You will need to pass the National Physical Therapist Examination (NPTE) which is offered by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. Your exam will be a 5 hour computer test that you can do in any one of over 300 centers in North America. When you are licensed, you will need to read up on the requirements to maintain your license before it expires.

License Renewal Policy

In most states, the licensing renewal policy is that you have to follow 24 hours of continuing education physical therapy, every 2 years, and then you can pay the renewal fee to maintain your license. The CEU classes you have to take can be very specific. For instance Florida laws state that in the first renewal, you have to take an HIV/AIDS course, 2 hours of medical errors training and a maximum of 5 hours of risk management education. You can also do some continuing education courses online, but they will accept no more than 12 hours per 2 year period to be done over the internet or at home.

Classes You Can Take

Luckily, many of the 24 hours of continuing education physical therapy classes are electives, so you can choose courses in your area of interest to not only help you refresh your education, but also to learn new philosophies, techniques and equipment that has been developed since you graduated. They will keep your knowledge current. You have the choice of taking CEU classes in the fields of pediatrics, geriatric rehabilitation, neurology, orthopedics and sports injuries, women's well-being and chronic care. The specific classes you can choose range from new therapies, to refresher courses to management courses and skill practice.

A physical therapist has a very important role in many people's lives and works very closely with his clients to plan the best course of action for their rehabilitation. With all the new technology we have today, physical therapists don't only rely on muscle exercises anymore, but also incorporate electric impulses, hydrotherapy and many different aids and machines to help the patients become mobile. With the steady flow of development, it is only natural that a physical therapist's learning is never done, so with continuing education physical therapy classes, they can always be up to date and ready to help people with the best means possible.

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