Career Mirror -- by Mark Sproxton

Surrounded by weight machines and sweaty, exercising bodies, the physiotherapist carefully monitors the movements of a recovering client. On her way back to regaining full use of her left knee after an ugly mountain biking crash, the client has just begun an exercise rehabilitation program. An unusual setting for a physiotherapist.

"I'm the exception rather than the rule," explains Terry Kane, who works out of the Heavens Fitness Club. "I'm dealing primarily with an athletic or active population in the field of sports medicine or sport-related injury. The vast majority of physiotherapists work in clinical settings." Those settings include hospitals or health clinics where physical therapists, or physiotherapists, may deal with patients who have suffered burns or strokes or a variety of other traumas.

Kane's turn to private, sports-related physiotherapy comes as no surprise considering his background in athletics. After going through a university phys-ed program, Kane knew he didn't want to teach, so he turned his passion for athletics to physiotherapy. His first job after graduating from the University of Toronto's physiotherapy program in 1985 found him as the physiotherapist for Canada's national hockey team. "I was very fortunate to be in that spot," Kane said. "Right off I jumped in at a (high) level. I was very lucky. I was doing something I enjoyed."

After three years with the national team, Kane worked at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and then worked at University of Calgary Sports Medicine Centre. In 1992 he opened his Achilles Physiotherapy Clinic and along the way worked as the Calgary Flames head physiotherapist and worked for the National Hockey League as well. Whether working with professional or amateur athletes, Kane has yet to find anything about the work he dislikes.

"The thing I like the most is the people," he said. "The athletes of all ages and all levels, I enjoy working with them (because) they have a passion to want to get back on the field and do it safely." After all, this is a helping profession, and ensuring a patient's safety is front and centre in physiotherapy regardless of where one works. Having that desire to help people is paramount for physiotherapists, Kane said. "You have to be a good listener and be able to really find an element of empathy with your clients. You have to be willing to not push but inspire people to move to another level."

While Kane's basic skills are similar to physiotherapists who work in other settings, his schedule differs greatly. For Kane, every day is different as he works on an appointment to appointment basis from morning to night. He said clinical-based physiotherapists would work a shift for a specified number of hours which would include treating patients and performing administrative duties, such as writing a "progress report" on each patient, and then go home.

As the baby-boomers age, Kane expects demand for physiotherapists to grow considerably in order to help these people stay healthy, active and independent. New physiotherapists working in a hospital setting can expect to earn around $22 an hour to start, and Kane recommends anyone considering physiotherapy check out a hospital setting first.

"The best thing you can do is (go to) a hospital and seek out an opportunity to volunteer," he said. "When you go to a clinic you see a small window as opposed to a hospital environment (where) you see all the areas within the field. Volunteering helps to establish some realistic goals. Physiotherapists coming out now have aspirations to do what I've been able to do but the demand is small. In reality, how many sport-medicine cases can there be? I consider myself very lucky."