Physical therapy; level of awareness of medical professionals

The purpose of study: Physical therapy is a renowned developing profession and improves not only the functional status but also enhance the quality of life in movement disorder population. The main purpose of this study was to find out the level of awareness about physical therapy in medical professionals. A descriptive Cross sectional Survey was done with a sample of 100. A structured questionnaire was developed for data collection from hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The data was collected from July 2010 to December 2010. The response was analyzed through SPSS-17. The results show that 90% of medical community knows about physical therapy as a specialty in medical sciences, refer their patients to the physical therapist, physical therapy is beneficial for their patients, and physical therapy has an essential role in health care system. The medical community refers their patients to the physical therapy for the management of musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, and cardiopulmonary conditions more commonly. Physical therapy is an emerging specialty of medical sciences in Pakistan. Physical Therapists are not only rehabilitating patients with movement dysfunction but are also working as active team members of medical community in Pakistan