Spanish for Physical Therapists: Phrases for Assessment, Exercise, and Pain
Spanish for physical therapists is a narrower skill than general medical Spanish, and that is good news. A PT session follows a predictable arc — greet, assess, measure pain, explain the plan, coach the movement, send the patient home with instructions. Learning the Spanish for those six moments covers most of what you need to treat a Spanish-speaking patient safely and warmly, without waiting for an interpreter who may not arrive for twenty minutes.
Why Physical Therapy Spanish Is Its Own Vocabulary
Most medical Spanish resources are built around diagnosis and treatment — the emergency department, the clinic intake, the pharmacy. Physical therapy runs on something different: body parts, directions of movement, effort, and sensation. You will say levante (lift), doble (bend) and aguante (hold) far more often than you will say anything about medication.
The second difference is that your patient is moving while you talk. That gives you a real advantage. You can demonstrate, and the patient can see what you mean, so your Spanish only has to be good enough to confirm and correct — not to carry the whole explanation on its own.
Opening the Session and Building Trust
- Buenos días, soy su terapeuta físico. — Good morning, I’m your physical therapist.
- ¿Cómo se siente hoy? — How are you feeling today?
- ¿Ha cambiado algo desde la última visita? — Has anything changed since the last visit?
- Vamos a trabajar despacio. Si algo le duele, dígame. — We’ll go slowly. If anything hurts, tell me.
- Hablo un poco de español. Por favor, corríjame si no entiendo. — I speak a little Spanish. Please correct me if I don’t understand.
That last sentence does more work than any other phrase on this page. Naming your own limits early gives the patient permission to slow down and repeat themselves, and it almost always lowers the tension in the room.
Asking About Pain
Pain assessment is the highest-stakes conversation in a PT session, and the one where a vague answer causes the most harm. These are the questions worth memorizing word for word:
- ¿Dónde le duele? — Where does it hurt?
- Del uno al diez, ¿qué tan fuerte es el dolor? — From one to ten, how strong is the pain?
- ¿Es un dolor agudo, ardiente o sordo? — Is it a sharp, burning, or dull pain?
- ¿El dolor se corre hacia la pierna? — Does the pain travel down the leg?
- ¿Siente hormigueo o entumecimiento? — Do you feel tingling or numbness?
- ¿Empeora por la mañana o por la noche? — Is it worse in the morning or at night?
- Dígame si esto le duele. — Tell me if this hurts.
Learn hormigueo (tingling) and entumecimiento (numbness) as a pair. Patients frequently use them interchangeably in conversation, so it is worth asking a follow-up rather than assuming which one they mean.
Body Parts You Will Use Every Day
- el hombro — shoulder · el codo — elbow · la muñeca — wrist
- la cadera — hip · la rodilla — knee · el tobillo — ankle
- la espalda baja — lower back · el cuello — neck · la columna — spine
- el músculo — muscle · la articulación — joint · el tendón — tendon · el ligamento — ligament
Note that Spanish uses the definite article where English uses a possessive: Levante la pierna means “lift your leg,” not “lift the leg.” Saying su pierna is understandable but sounds oddly formal to a native ear.
Coaching Movement: The Command Forms
This is the heart of physical therapy Spanish. Use the formal command (usted) form with patients — it is respectful and it is what they will expect in a clinical setting.
- Levante el brazo. — Lift your arm.
- Doble la rodilla. — Bend your knee.
- Estire la pierna. — Straighten your leg.
- Aguante diez segundos. — Hold for ten seconds.
- Respire hondo. Ahora suelte. — Breathe deeply. Now release.
- Más despacio, por favor. — More slowly, please.
- Otra vez. Tres repeticiones más. — Again. Three more repetitions.
- Relájese. — Relax.
- Empuje contra mi mano. — Push against my hand.
- No aguante la respiración. — Don’t hold your breath.
If you learn nothing else, learn levante, doble, estire and aguante. Paired with a demonstration and a body part, those four verbs will carry an entire exercise session.
Home Exercise Instructions
Home programs fail more often from unclear instructions than from patient unwillingness. Spell out the numbers:
- Haga este ejercicio dos veces al día. — Do this exercise twice a day.
- Tres series de diez repeticiones. — Three sets of ten repetitions.
- Use hielo por quince minutos después. — Use ice for fifteen minutes afterward.
- Si le duele más de lo normal, pare y llámenos. — If it hurts more than usual, stop and call us.
- Es normal sentir un poco de molestia, pero no dolor fuerte. — Some discomfort is normal, but not strong pain.
- ¿Me puede repetir lo que va a hacer en casa? — Can you repeat back what you’re going to do at home?
That final question — the teach-back — is the single most useful sentence in this article. It catches misunderstandings before the patient walks out the door, and it works in any language.
Getting From a Phrase List to a Real Conversation
Reading these phrases is the easy part. The difficulty comes the first time a patient answers a pain question with a sentence you did not anticipate, at conversational speed, while you are also watching their gait. That is a practice problem, not a knowledge problem, and it is solved by speaking — out loud, with someone who corrects your pronunciation and responds unpredictably.
Therapists building this skill usually start with our overview of medical Spanish for healthcare professionals, then work through taking a patient history in Spanish and the core medical terms every clinician needs. If you work in a mixed clinical setting, our guide to Spanish for dentists covers a related procedural vocabulary, and the role of Spanish in healthcare explains why so many practices are now treating this as core training rather than a nice-to-have.
For rehab departments training several clinicians at once, group language training keeps everyone on the same vocabulary. Individual therapists usually prefer private language training built around their own caseload.
Clinics reviewing their language-access obligations can start with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidance on limited English proficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Spanish do physical therapists need most?
Command forms for movement (levante, doble, estire, aguante), body parts, pain-assessment questions, and home-exercise instructions with numbers. Physical therapy vocabulary is narrower than general medical Spanish because the same small set of movements and sensations repeats in every session.
How do you say “physical therapy” in Spanish?
La terapia física or la fisioterapia. Both are widely understood; fisioterapia is more common in Spain and parts of Latin America, while terapia física is more common in the United States. A physical therapist is el/la terapeuta físico or el/la fisioterapeuta.
How do I ask a patient to rate their pain in Spanish?
Del uno al diez, ¿qué tan fuerte es el dolor? — From one to ten, how strong is the pain? Follow up with ¿Es un dolor agudo, ardiente o sordo? (sharp, burning, or dull) and ¿Siente hormigueo o entumecimiento? (tingling or numbness) to get a usable picture.
Should I use formal or informal commands with patients?
Use the formal usted command form — levante, not levanta. It is the respectful default in any clinical setting, and it is what adult patients expect from a healthcare provider they have just met.
Does learning Spanish replace a medical interpreter?
No. Conversational Spanish helps you run a routine session, build rapport, and coach movement, but consent discussions, complex histories, and anything with legal or safety weight still call for a qualified interpreter. The goal is better care in the ordinary moments, not fewer interpreters in the important ones.
How long does it take to learn physical therapy Spanish?
Most therapists can run a basic session — greeting, pain check, exercise coaching, home instructions — within about two to three months of consistent weekly practice, because the vocabulary is small and repeats constantly. Understanding open-ended patient answers at natural speed takes longer and depends almost entirely on how much you speak, not how much you read.
Practice With a Live Instructor
Clinical Spanish sticks when you rehearse real sessions out loud and get corrected in the moment. Explore CORE Languages’ live Spanish classes or schedule a session to practice with a professional instructor who can build the lessons around your caseload.
