Physical Therapist Salary - Income Advice For New Therapists

Injuries are very much part of every professional athlete's life. At certain points in their careers, they may suffer injuries in varying degrees of severity. When this happens, the services of physical therapists are very much needed in order to ensure proper rehabilitation by developing a plan using treatment techniques to restore function, reduce pain, to promote the ability to move and to some extent, to prevent disability. Physical therapy workers are some of the better paid healthcare professionals because of this important role they play in injury treatment. The physical therapist salary is very competitive compared to many healthcare salaries.

Athletes are not the only group of people which need physical therapy services, as virtually anyone who has an unfortunate accident or disease that causes movement dysfunction, limiting the individual's abilities to move and perform functional activities would be a candidate. This type of therapist also develops fitness and wellness-oriented plans for patients to prevent their loss of mobility before this gets out of hand.

Most people that are interested in entering this career may want to know how much money they'll receive per year or per hour. Half of all these types of therapists employed in the United States receive $74,480 a year or $35.81 an hour; translating to $76,220 in mean annual salary, or a $36.64 mean hourly wage. The lowest 10% of therapists earning the least salary receive $52,170 in annual wage, while those upper 10% earning the highest physical therapist salary earn $105,900 a year.

Physical therapists in ALF or assisted living facilities earn the highest salary these days, as of September 2010, with an estimated salary of $99,000. Occupational physical therapists working in correctional facilities on the other hand, earn almost $60,000 in annual physical therapy salary. Homecare physical therapy workers receive $75,000 annually, the same with physical therapists in inpatient and outpatient work setting.

To give you a clearer perspective on the trend of the physical therapy salary, the salary index for this occupation in October 2008 was 1.0 and in July 2010, the salary index is about 1.15 with a high of 1.35 at the beginning of this year.

In relation with this increase in therapist salary, the Bureau of Labor Statistic reported that there will be a growth in the need for physical therapy in the next ten years growing by 30%. There are reported changes in the restrictions on physical therapy service reimbursements by third-party payers that will increase the number of patients with access to services, increasing the demands for physical therapists. This is in addition to the growing number of elderly people who will be needing physically oriented therapy services in the years to come.

Having a job in a physical therapy is a rewarding career in terms of the physical therapist salary one receives and the satisfaction of being able to help an individual survive an accident or a debilitating disease and recover fully again.