'Not a Teacher but a Companion': The Crucial Distance Maintained by Physical Therapists

Currently, I work as a physical therapist, doing home visit rehabilitation work from a visiting nursing station. In a nutshell, it's a profession specializing in rehabilitation, targeting those who are in hospitals or have been injured. I hold a national qualification as a physical therapist, but there are also similar rehabilitation qualifications like occupational therapist and speech-language-hearing therapist. Generally, there are about three types of national qualifications for medical rehabilitation professions.

Mostly, it's in hospitals, elderly care facilities, clinics in the city, small hospitals, and a bit further, facilities for children. Less commonly, there's the sports field, accompanying Olympic or professional athletes.

To obtain the qualification, you first need to attend a training school, which could be a university or a vocational school for 3 to 4 years. Upon graduation, you gain the eligibility to take the national exam.

My grandmother had artificial joints in both hips due to poor health, which I observed from a young age. At that time, I didn't think much of it, just that she had bad legs. However, I learned about this profession and thought it was great. Before this job, I was an instructor at a sports club, where many visitors complained of knee or back pain, which I found disconcerting. After working for three years as a social worker, I re-enrolled in school and entered a vocational school in my mid-20s. Although I was teaching exercise at the sports club, I didn't feel much improvement in pain, realizing I needed to delve deeper into understanding the body. At that time, most staff didn't hold any qualifications, so I thought about re-studying.

The most important aspect is building a relationship of trust with the patient before starting rehabilitation. Even with skilled staff, if rehabilitation can't be done, it's as if they're not needed, which is a challenge even now.

It's very gratifying when patients or clients feel better and express, 'I can do this now' or 'I'm better than before.' It's also rewarding when an approach that didn't work before suddenly becomes effective, making me feel I've grown a bit.

For me, it's interesting to interact with various types of people. Discussing their backgrounds, thoughts, and experiences, even if it's not directly related to rehabilitation, is enjoyable due to the variety.

It's tough when efforts don't lead to results, when you feel you're not doing well, or when the necessity of rehabilitation isn't recognized. The biggest challenge is when the patient doesn't share the same goal of getting better.

Currently, I have proper days off, so the workload doesn't intrude much into my private life. There's not much overtime. In the home healthcare field, rehabilitation doesn't involve night shifts. On average, I visit about 6 places a day, trying to allocate time for travel between visits. The duration varies depending on whether the service is covered by medical or long-term care insurance, typically around 1 hour, but it can be adjusted to fit within the schedule.

Although I haven't been able to do it much recently, attending seminars, workshops, and reading new literature is a daily routine. Information changes even after obtaining the qualification. Depending on personal interests, one might pursue additional qualifications in areas like respiratory care, cardiac rehabilitation, or diabetes management.

Some qualified therapists do open their practices. However, the physical therapist qualification is unique in that it's a name-restricted qualification, meaning anyone can perform the job, but they can't call themselves a physical therapist. It's a bit confusing. Unlike doctors or nurses, whose practices are restricted to qualified individuals, our work can be done by anyone, but they can't use the title.

It's enough to live on. However, in the medical field, there's a tendency to hide dissatisfaction with income behind words like 'fulfillment' or 'compassion.' Whether it's high or not, I think the current income matches the sense of fulfillment. If there was significant dissatisfaction, I might consider changing paths. Home visits might offer higher income compared to hospital or clinic settings.

It's not that I dislike this job, but rather, I'm curious about different jobs and worlds. I want to see them. As I age, this job might become challenging, so I don't plan to return to it. However, I do intend to use my knowledge and current career to pursue something different.

It occupies a significant portion of my life, not just in terms of time but also as a means to live. Work also connects me to society. Even if I could live without working, I doubt I could stay home doing nothing forever.

In 5 years, ideally, I'd like to have more decision-making power in my work. While currently, I'm mostly employed, I hope to have more autonomy in making decisions. I'd like to initiate projects or reduce my current workload to create opportunities for myself.

Before I started this job, when I searched online about what it entails, I found a response saying that people suited for this job are those who like people. At the time, I didn't quite understand, but now it makes perfect sense. Since the job involves working with people, without a liking or interest in people, it's hard to progress. It's not about making a lot of money; it's about having an interest in people and helping them as a companion, not as a teacher. Rehabilitation therapists are not teachers; we walk alongside our patients, not leading from far ahead.