Kinesiologist vs Physical Therapist

In addition to helping athletes recover from injuries, they may also design exercise programs to prevent future injuries. The primary goal of a kinesiologist is to enhance an athlete's quality of life by improving their overall fitness.

A physical therapist helps patients recover from injuries and reacclimate their bodies to normal usage after major surgeries or other medical scenarios. They may also employ active therapies such as stretches, exercises, massages, and ultrasound therapy.

A physical therapist's main objective is to improve a patient's quality of life by improving their mobility, restoring function to certain parts of their body, and decreasing any chronic pain.

There are many similarities between these two professions; however, here are the key differences between a kinesiologist and a physical therapist:

• A kinesiologist mainly works with athletes as their patient base

• A physical therapist works with all different kinds of patients, including ones of all ages and genders

• A kinesiologist's duties include overseeing exercise stress tests, measuring cardiovascular function and metabolism, and creating individual exercise plans for an athlete to obtain top performance and weight goals

• A physical therapist's duties include diagnosing dysfunctional movement in patients, providing massages to patients, helping a patient recover after surgery, and supervising exercise specialists and physical therapy assistants

• Kinesiologists are mainly employed by sports teams, professional and amateur, and for other athletic programs

• Physical therapists are mainly employed by hospitals and other medical facilities

• On average, physical therapists have slightly higher salaries than kinesiologists