Physical Therapists
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.
267,330 people do this job in the US. $102,760 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 30%
- 15%
- 55%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 4%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 21%. Today's estimate: 22%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 24 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 19% | 50 min25 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Conduct or support research and apply research findings to practice.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 11% | 3.3 h50 min to 1 work day | 28%Half by Feb 2027 | |
| Perform and document an initial exam, evaluating data to identify problems and determine a diagnosis prior to intervention.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 8% | 50 min33 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Administer manual exercises, massage, or traction to help relieve pain, increase patient strength, or decrease or prevent deformity or crippling.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Evaluate effects of treatment at various stages and adjust treatments to achieve maximum benefit.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min13 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Test and measure patient's strength, motor development and function, sensory perception, functional capacity, or respiratory or circulatory efficiency and record data.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Direct, supervise, assess, and communicate with supportive personnel.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Confer with the patient, medical practitioners, or appropriate others to plan, implement, or assess the intervention program.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Administer treatment involving application of physical agents, using equipment, moist packs, ultraviolet or infrared lamps, or ultrasound machines.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Identify and document goals, anticipated progress, and plans for reevaluation.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Record prognosis, treatment, response, and progress in patient's chart or enter information into computer.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 3% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Instruct patient and family in treatment procedures to be continued at home.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).