Connecticut General Statutes Title 20. Professional and Occupational Licensing, Certification, Title Protection and Registration. Examining Boards § 20-66. Definitions

(1) “Physical therapist” means a person licensed to practice physical therapy in this state;

(2) “Physical therapy” means the evaluation and treatment of any person by the employment of the effective properties of physical measures, the performance of tests and measurements as an aid to evaluation of function and the use of therapeutic exercises and rehabilitative procedures, with or without assistive devices, for the purpose of preventing, correcting or alleviating a physical or mental disability. “Physical therapy” includes the establishment and modification of physical therapy programs, treatment planning, instruction, wellness care, peer review, consultative services and the use of low-level light laser therapy for the purpose of accelerating tissue repair, decreasing edema or minimizing or eliminating pain, but does not include surgery, the prescribing of drugs, the development of a medical diagnosis of disease, injury or illness, the use of cauterization or the use of Roentgen rays or radium for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. As used in this section, “low-level light laser therapy” means low-level light therapy having wave lengths that range from six hundred to one thousand nanometers;

(3) “Physical therapist assistant” means a person licensed to assist in the practice of physical therapy in this state under the supervision of a physical therapist. For purposes of this subdivision and subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 20-73, “supervision” means the overseeing of or the participation in the work of a physical therapist assistant by a licensed physical therapist, including, but not limited to: (A) Continuous availability of direct communication between the physical therapist assistant and a licensed physical therapist; (B) availability of a licensed physical therapist on a regularly scheduled basis to (i) review the practice of the physical therapist assistant, and (ii) support the physical therapist assistant in the performance of the physical therapist assistant's services; and (C) a predetermined plan for emergency situations, including the designation of an alternate licensed physical therapist in the absence of the regular licensed physical therapist;

(4) “Assist in the practice of physical therapy” means the treatment of any person by the employment of the effective properties of physical measures and the use of therapeutic exercises and rehabilitative procedures, with or without assistive devices, for the purpose of preventing, correcting or alleviating a physical or mental disability, but does not include the interpretation of referrals, initial or discharge evaluation or assessment, or determination or modification of treatment or discharge plans; and

(5) “Wellness care” means services related to conditioning, strength training, fitness, workplace ergonomics or injury prevention.