Research Assessment #7

How Technology Is Changing the Future of Physical Therapy

      As I was deciding what to research for this week’s assessment, I realized that I had no idea what the future of physical therapy as an industry looked like. So I decided to investigate, and my findings were a little scary at first, but overall very positive and I have a lot of high hopes.
      There is a concern for physical therapy that is also seen commonly among other industries in this day and age - the fear of being replaced by technology and robots. For a lot of industries, the increasing developments in technology will be their downfall as they are taken over by computers and machines. In my last research essay, I explored how technology is impacting the future of physical therapy. This week, I researched what the future of physical therapy looks like and how technology will impact it. There is definitely no need to worry about a shortage of patients or a drop in the need for physical therapists- in fact, these numbers are steadily increasing as medical care improves, lifespan length increases, and the elderly population of the United States grows. As of 2016, one out of every five Americans had chronic pain (Greenway 1). This number is huge and continues to skyrocket every day. Physical therapists are in high demand, the United States needs the capacity to care for more musculoskeletal problems so they can save money and avoid the higher risks and higher costs of treatments like surgery and opioids when they don’t need them. In 2014, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted that there would be 71,800 new jobs created in the field of physical therapy by 2024. The promising numbers and the reassurance that I am going into a field that is seeing a lot of increase in its demand make me feel very good about continuing on my research path and considering becoming a physical therapist as my professional career.
      As I learned in my last research assessment about how technology is changing physical therapy in the present, the greatest challenge of a physical therapist is getting their patients to do the work outside of the clinic. Less than one out of every ten people who could benefit from physical therapy received physical therapy treatment and made an effort to follow the program (Greenaway 1). This is where the benefits of increased developments in technology are recognized. The invention of things like Wiihab and Virtual Reality have increased participation of physical therapy patients because they make the home exercises more fun and engaging. They also eliminate the hard part: getting up, leaving the house, driving to the clinic, and driving back. Technology also helps to spread awareness, generate excitement about seeing musculoskeletal care, and enable new business models that cater to that nine of ten non-consumers of physical therapy (Greenaway 2). This is where I stopped to think- if technology can do all this, will it eventually develop so far that there won’t be a need for human physical therapists anymore? It was a worrisome thought for me, but the article reassured me quickly. Physical therapy is a human profession. Sure, technology can and does help out a lot, but the bottom line is that no robot or technological development will be able to form a bond like the one that is created between a physical therapist and their patient. Physical therapy and technology go hand in hand, and there won't ever be one without the other.
      The future of physical therapy is very bright! After this week of research, I feel very assured and motivated to continue on down this math and learn even more about physical therapy. I am now even more confident than before that I have chosen an amazing practice.