What Is a Physiologist? What Makes Him Different From a Physical Therapist?

Question by Floppy: What is a physiologist? What makes him different from a Physical Therapist?
I asked this question earlier and said “physiotherapist” when I meant to writer Physiologist. I can’t seem to find anyone who practices it in Western Suffolk County, New York.

Best answer:

Answer by Dean M.
A physiologist is a type of doctor who studies the functions of the various organs in the human body (or of animals, if they are an animal physiologist). This website will give you an idea of all that could be involved in their work http://www.schoolsintheusa.com/careerprofiles_details.cfm?carId=428 but realize that most physiologists specialize in just one area, or a few related areas.

A physical therapist, on the other hand deals mostly with the movement functions of the body, and helps people with injuries or after surgery to regain range of motion, pain management, and sometimes strengthing of certain muscles for people involved with sports.

There can be some overlap between the two professions, such as a person who wanted to specialize as an excercise physiologist. But while individual doctors are more specialized, the field of physiology would be broader than that of physical therapy. Another difference is that a physiologist (provided they are a licensed M.D.) can prescribe medicine where physical therapists don’t (although they might make a recommendation to the doctor who prescribed the physical therapy).

Therin probaly lies your difficulty in finding a physiologist. You might try narrowing your search to what aspect of physiology you need to evaluate. For example, if there is a problem with your liver function, you would look for a hepatologist. If your heart function was abnormal, you would see a cardiologist. Another type of doctor (M.D.) that you might see similar to a physical therapist if you have a loss of range of movement or physical disability is a physiatrist.

If you have a primary care physician who said that you need to see a physiologist, they should be able to tell you more specifically what type of doctor you need to see, and they can even (or should be able to) help set up an appointment for you. You can also try this to locate appropriate specialists near you: http://www.revolutionhealth.com/doctors Or, if you know the condition for which you were to see a physiologist, try your local yellow pages (there’s also an online version by Yahoo!: http://local.yahoo.com/ ) or see if any of the hospitals near you have a referral service.

By the way, how did this get posted in “Botany”?

ADDED – I looked at your original question, and it would seem that you’re looking for an exercise physiologist, physical therapist, or physiatrist. By all means, you should contact your primary care physician and ask for a referral. My PCP always asks if I have a preferance of where to go (if I know of the specialist/hospital/clinic for the recommended tests/treatments). If the appointment is for something new, they will give some suggestions for a specialist/hospital/clinic and will usually even call to set up a first appointment for me. Since most specialists do their work based on prescriptions for treatments from PCPs, this would seem to be you best soltion for finding the specialist your doctor wants.

Answer by mistify
I updated my answer under your original question…I think I have the answer for you.

What do you think? Answer below!

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