The difference between physical therapy in the US, Japan and the Philippines

I’m a trader mainly trading stock index futures. I have no idea about physical therapy but a friend of mine in Japan is a student of physical therapy. He always complains about the standards of physical therapy in Japan. He said, “Physical therapy in Japan is 10 years behind than the one in the US.” And he asked me “How is physical therapy in the Philippines?” Of course, I couldn’t answer. Then, I researched a little about physical therapy.

First, I looked over physical therapy in Japan.
I found this website about Japanese Physical Therapy Association.

And this is their PR brochure.

They emphasized on how they make their patients enjoy the therapy. It seems that they consider good attitude and dedication very important.


Next, I looked over physical therapy in the US.
And I found the website of American Physical Therapy Association. However, their website doesn’t emphasize anything.

Here is a slide presented by APTA.

They presented “Practice Based on Evidence” in the slide and seemed to consider that skills and technology are important.


I found a short report written by a Japanese physical therapy student.

The opinion of the student is the same as my friend’s. The student also complained about the standards of physical therapy in Japan. He said that physical therapists (PTs) in the US use computers when they crunch and encode data from patients, and then programmed robots help patients exercise. He also questioned the legal system of physical therapy. PTs in Japan can’t start their own hospitals. They are just like nurses but PTs in the US can. The student suggested that the difference between the legal systems might affect the PTs' motivation for upgrading skills and technology.


Then, I had a trial lesson at HLCA, an ESL school specialized in medical English.

I asked the teacher how physical therapy in the Philippines is. She answered as follows:

The standards of physical therapy in the Philippines weren’t bad. Although she wasn’t sure which one is better, in Japan or in the Philippines. However, it has problems. Most Filipinos are so poor that they cannot afford physical therapy but only few the rich can. That’s why PTs have fewer job opportunities.

Her friend’s mother is a physical therapist but she almost stays at home as a housewife because she only has few assignments on physical therapy. One of her friends studied physical therapy in college but is trying to change his career into medicine. Most PTs want jobs abroad.


The Philippines is a good place to learn medical English even for physical therapy. However, just like Japan, it also has its problems. I hope those problems will be solved.