Glossary
Physical Therapist Aide Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential physical therapist aide terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key physical therapist aide vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in physical therapist aide training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Body mechanics
- Safe movement.
- Cold pack
- Ice pack.
- Disinfection
- Cleaning.
- Exercise flow sheet
- List of exercises.
- Front desk
- Reception tasks.
- Gait belt
- Safety belt.
- HIPAA
- Privacy law.
- Hot pack
- Heated pack for muscles.
- Modality
- Heat, ice or electrical stimulation.
- Plan of care
- Therapy plan.
- PTA
- Physical therapist assistant.
- Supervision
- Direct oversight.
- Theraband
- Resistance band.
- Transfer
- Moving a patient.
- Treatment table
- Therapy table.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Physical Therapist Aide practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Physical Therapist Aide training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.