How To Become A Rehabilitation Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a rehabilitation assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Elsa Drevyn PT, DPT

A rehabilitation assistant helps patients recover from an injury or illness by working under a nurse or occupational therapist. The rehabilitation assistant helps their supervisor execute a patient's rehabilitation plan by helping them do necessary therapeutic exercises and instructing them as they use various different equipment.

Rehabilitation assistants are also responsible for the administrative tasks associated with a patient's rehabilitation, such as organizing patient paperwork and documenting their progress. If they are working in a residential facility, rehabilitation assistants help take care of other tasks that patients need, such as feeding them and grooming them. They also help the patients have a good experience by greeting them warmly and providing emotional support.

Since this is an entry-level position, rehabilitation assistants do not need much formal education. A high school diploma plus a certificate program is usually enough to find a job. Some places require their rehabilitation assistants to get certified in emergency skills such as CPR.

Rehabilitation assistants earn an average salary of $31,514 a year. The demand for this career is expected to grow by 13%.

What general advice would you give to a rehabilitation assistant?

Elsa Drevyn PT, DPT

Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Education and Vice Chair for Clinical Education

It brings a lot of satisfaction to help someone recover or achieve the greatest potential that they possibly can after an injury, accident, illness, etc. This profession probably offers more flexibility than many as far as job sharing, hours, settings, etc. There is also flexibility in the types of settings that we can work in and the opportunity to change settings throughout our careers. We deal with a lot of emotional situations, patients in pain and distressed, that does take a toll. There is pressure from administrators for increased productivity and that also gets taxing.

ScoreRehabilitation AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.8

Avg. Salary $35,219

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.13%

Asian 6.51%

Black or African American 11.65%

Hispanic or Latino 16.17%

Unknown 5.15%

White 58.40%

Gender

female 73.90%

male 26.10%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a rehabilitation assistant

Explore rehabilitation assistant education requirements

Most common rehabilitation assistant degrees

Bachelor's

52.4 %

Associate

18.1 %

High School Diploma

12.0 %

Start to develop specific rehabilitation assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Rehabilitation	15.87%
Patients	13.78%
Patient Care	7.72%
Customer Service	7.51%
Money Management	5.35%

Complete relevant rehabilitation assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New rehabilitation assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a rehabilitation assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real rehabilitation assistant resumes.

Research rehabilitation assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage organization and cleanliness of therapy room and equipment.
Provide manual manipulation and cuing of patient lower extremities facilitating rehabilitation of gait patterns during body-weight support treadmill training therapy sessions.
Lead emergency drills and CPR training.
Respect patients rights, and comply with HIPPA confidentiality guidelines.

Prepare your rehabilitation assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your rehabilitation assistant resume.

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