Assess, plan, organize, and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, relieve pain, increase strength, and improve or correct disabling conditions resulting from disease or injury.
U.S. Workers
248,630
Median Salary
$101,020
10-Year Growth
+10.9%
Annual Openings
13,200
Typical entry: Doctoral or professional degree
23 of 24 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.
AI: Fully automatable - Documenting prognosis, treatment, and progress is a clerical and data-entry task that AI can reliably generate and enter into electronic records, subject to human review for accuracy.
Provide information to the patient about the proposed intervention, its material risks and expected benefits, and any reasonable alternatives.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate clear, evidence‑based explanations of proposed interventions, material risks, benefits, and alternatives (including personalization from records), enabling automated provision of that information.
Provide educational information about physical therapy or physical therapists, injury prevention, ergonomics, or ways to promote health.
AI: Fully automatable - AI is well capable of producing accurate, tailored educational content on physical therapy, injury prevention, ergonomics, and health promotion and can automate delivery.
Refer clients to community resources or services.
AI: Fully automatable - Referring clients to community resources is primarily information retrieval, eligibility matching, and documentation, tasks that AI systems can fully automate and execute given access to up‑to‑date databases and consent.
Plan, prepare, or carry out individually designed programs of physical treatment to maintain, improve, or restore physical functioning, alleviate pain, or prevent physical dysfunction in patients.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with treatment planning and monitoring through data analysis and exercise programs, but cannot perform hands-on manual therapy or assume full clinical responsibility.
Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.
AI: Partial - AI can synthesize exam data and draft documentation to support diagnosis, but performing the physical components of an initial exam and final diagnostic judgments require a clinician.
Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.
AI: Partial - AI can track outcomes and recommend treatment adjustments based on data, but nuanced clinical decision-making and hands-on modifications necessitate therapist involvement.
Identify and document goals, anticipated progress, and plans for reevaluation.
AI: Partial - AI can propose goals, timelines, and reevaluation plans from standardized templates and patient data, but goal setting is typically collaborative and requires clinician validation.
Obtain patients' informed consent to proposed interventions.
AI: Partial - AI can draft consent documents and explain risks/benefits, but legal and ethical standards generally require a qualified clinician to obtain and document informed consent.
Review physician's referral and patient's medical records to help determine diagnosis and physical therapy treatment required.
AI: Partial - AI can parse referrals and medical records to suggest likely diagnoses and treatment plans, but final interpretation and responsibility require clinician judgment.
Test and measure patient's strength, motor development and function, sensory perception, functional capacity, or respiratory or circulatory efficiency and record data.
AI: Partial - AI and sensors/computer vision can measure and record many objective metrics but cannot fully replicate nuanced hands‑on assessment and clinical judgment required for all tests.
Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.
AI: Partial - AI can generate tailored home‑exercise instructions, videos, and reminders, but it cannot fully ensure correct technique or replace in‑person demonstration and coaching.
Discharge patient from physical therapy when goals or projected outcomes have been attained and provide for appropriate follow-up care or referrals.
AI: Partial - AI can track outcome measures and recommend discharge criteria and follow‑up, yet the final discharge decision and responsibility typically remain with the therapist.
Direct, supervise, assess, and communicate with supportive personnel.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with coordination, monitoring, delegation, and documentation for supportive personnel but cannot fully assume leadership, supervision, and complex human management duties.
Inform patients and refer to appropriate practitioners when diagnosis reveals findings outside physical therapy.
AI: Partial - AI can identify red flags in data and recommend referrals to other practitioners, but making definitive referral decisions and communicating nuanced findings still requires clinician oversight.
Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.
AI: Partial - AI can synthesize information and facilitate conferences among patients and practitioners to plan and assess care, but cannot fully replace collaborative clinical judgment and decision‑making.
Administer treatment involving application of physical agents, using equipment, moist packs, ultraviolet or infrared lamps, or ultrasound machines.
AI: Partial - Applying physical agents is a hands‑on, safety‑critical clinical task that AI can support with protocols, device settings, and monitoring but cannot physically perform or fully assume responsibility for treatment delivery.
Teach physical therapy students or those in other health professions.
AI: Partial - AI can deliver didactic content, create simulations, assess knowledge, and support teaching, but it cannot fully replace human mentorship, clinical role‑modeling, and in‑person supervision of students.
Evaluate, fit, or adjust prosthetic or orthotic devices or recommend modification to orthotist.
AI: Partial - AI can assist with assessment, 3D scanning, design recommendations, and communication with orthotists, but the physical evaluation, fitting and manual adjustment require trained human clinicians.
Conduct or support research and apply research findings to practice.
AI: Partial - AI can perform literature review, data analysis, protocol drafting and help translate findings into practice, but cannot independently conduct regulated human‑subject research or fully substitute for investigator judgment and oversight.
Participate in community or community agency activities or help to formulate public policy.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze community needs, draft policy briefs, and identify stakeholders, yet authentic participation, relationship‑building, advocacy, and political judgment remain human activities.
Direct group rehabilitation activities.
AI: Partial - Directing group rehab involves real‑time supervision, safety monitoring and interpersonal facilitation that AI can support (scheduling, exercise guidance, remote monitoring) but not fully replace in person leadership and clinical judgment.
Construct, maintain, or repair medical supportive devices.
AI: Partial - Constructing, maintaining, or repairing supportive devices requires manual fabrication and technical hands‑on skills, while AI can provide designs, diagnostics, and step‑by‑step instructions but not perform the physical work alone.
Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.
AI: Not automatable - Manual exercises, massage, and traction require hands‑on tactile skill and physical manipulation that AI cannot perform in 2025.