Physical Therapy
Optimizing movement to improve the human experience.
Physical therapy is a rewarding field that is projected to grow by 34 percent over the next 10 years. Through our faculty experts and small class sizes, you will learn the skills you need to care for patients. In fact, over the past five years, 98.7 percent of our students passed the National Physical Therapy Exam on the first attempt.
As a physical therapy student, you will:
- Present your research at national conferences
- Assist physical therapy faculty in treating Division I athletes
- Participate in one of our 200-plus clinical education sites around the world
- Get personalized academic and career assistance from a core faculty advisor
- Learn from board-certified clinical specialists in sports, orthopedics, geriatrics and neurology
By the time you graduate, you'll enter the physical therapy field with the well-rounded background necessary to succeed.
The University of South Dakota participates in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s Professional Student Exchange Program. For more information about this program, including states that participate in physical therapy programming, please access a handout at: https://www.wiche.edu/files/files/PSEPhandout.pdf.
Explore Our Programs
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Undergraduate
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Graduate
More Information
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Improve Quality of Life
Help patients perform at their absolute best as a physical therapist.
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Miranda Ristau, physical therapy graduate student at the University of South Dakota and former honorable mention All-American basketball player at Northern State University, in Aberdeen, South Dakota, has been awarded a prestigious post-graduate academic scholarship by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
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USD Physical Therapy, in collaboration with Sanford Health, developed a PT Sports Residency. Residents will work directly with USD student athletes and work at Sanford POWER in Sioux Falls. First review of applications begins December 1.
Accreditation
The Department of Physical Therapy at The University of South Dakota is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 1111 North Fairfax Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone: 703-706-3245; email: accreditation@apta.org; website: http://www.capteonline.org.