Online Physical Therapy Certification and Degrees

An online degree in physical therapy will prepare you to work with patients who are trying to prevent or rehabilitate an injury. Online courses can cover both prerequisite topics such as anatomy, biology, and basic medical sciences as well as required courses for degrees and certifications. Most programs offer at least part of their curriculum online. Online programs can also help set-up clinical internships, where you will spend time working with actual patients.

Physical Therapy Assistant Associate's Degree

Physical therapy assistants must get a 2-year associates degree in order to practice. Many curriculum requirements, such as theory and practice of physical therapy, basic medical sciences and general education courses can be taken online.

Bachelor-to-Master's

A bachelor-to-master's program allows students to take undergraduate and post-graduate classes at the same time in an accelerated program. Online courses can be used to facilitate the flexible schedules required for this type of program.

Direct Entry Master's

The direct entry master's program is designed for students that hold bachelor's degrees in other fields. Prerequisite courses and basic medical and physical therapy coursework can usually be done with online courses. This program takes 2 to 3 years to complete, with the latter part being devoted to clinical practice, which cannot be done online.

Doctorate

Physical therapy doctorates are designed for students seeking doctorate qualifications in subjects like occupational therapy, gerontology, and health care administration. Some programs offer exclusive online study, while others have partial on no online coursework.

Transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy

The transitional doctor of physical therapy is coursework designed for practicing physical therapists who want to unify credentials between their certificate, bachelor's degree, or master's degrees and receive their doctor of physical therapy degree. A number of universities offer this curriculum online, with coursework taking about 3 years to complete.