Physical Therapy Abbreviations List

Physical therapy abbreviations are shortened medical terms and phrases used in patient notes to write down findings, interventions, and the plan of care. They help physical therapists save time when documenting a visit. However, no official list of physical therapy abbreviations exists, and some abbreviations vary from one clinic to the next.

Some common physical therapy abbreviations include MMT (manual muscle testing), AROM (active range of motion), WNL (within normal limits), PLOF (prior level of function), POC (plan of care), ther ex (therapeutic exercise), and neuro re-ed (neuromuscular re-education).

These abbreviations exist for a practical reason: the same phrases recur for every patient, and notes are often written between patients rather than after.

Exam and measurement abbreviations

The following abbreviations are common in the objective section of outpatient physical therapy notes, though specific wording may vary by clinic.

These abbreviations are not universal. Some clinics use slightly different abbreviations and combinations of terms. For example, AROM and PROM describe who produces the motion, and some clinics add AAROM for active-assisted range of motion. In many clinics, WNL and WFL are used interchangeably, while others keep them apart: WNL means a normal value, and WFL means enough motion or strength for the patient's daily tasks, even if below normal.

MMT depends on the scale. Most clinics use the 0 to 5 scale, but some add plus and minus grades (4-/5, 4+/5). MMT is written as a fraction (for example, 4/5), while pain is usually recorded on a 0 to 10 scale.

Side is written in different ways too. Some notes use R and L, others Rt and Lt, and "both sides" can appear as B, BL, or bil. Writing the side out in full removes any doubt about which limb was measured. Range of motion is recorded in degrees, and the degree sign is often left out.

Medical history and plan abbreviations

After the objective exam, you'll find several abbreviations throughout the patient's history, assessment, and plan. Learn these in context, because several look similar but mean different things.

Commonly confused pairs

STG vs LTG: STG is a goal for the next few weeks, while LTG is the goal for the end of the episode of care.

AROM vs PROM: AROM is motion the patient produces on their own, such as lifting the arm. PROM is motion the therapist produces while the patient stays relaxed. Some clinics write ROM for both, so always check your clinic's habits.

BID vs 2x/week: BID comes from the Latin bis in die and means twice a day, which is how often the patient does the HEP. Visit frequency is written per week instead, such as 2x/week, so don't read BID as two visits.

D/C: Pay close attention to D/C. Context usually makes the meaning clear, but on its own, D/C can be ambiguous. In some notes it means discharge; in others, discontinue.

PN and KX: In outpatient physical therapy, PN generally means "progress note." Elsewhere in a medical record, it can mean something else, so spell it out on documents that leave the clinic. KX is the modifier Medicare uses for therapy above a yearly threshold; the threshold changes every year, so check the current amount on the CMS therapy services page.

Weight-bearing and assistance abbreviations

This group of abbreviations requires the most caution. A single misreading can lead to a serious error, such as a post-operative patient putting full weight on a leg that should bear none, or walking without the help they need, any of which can harm a patient.

Abbreviations that are easy to misread

The weight-bearing abbreviations NWB, TTWB, PWB, WBAT, and FWB need extra care. When handwritten or typed in a hurry, a dropped "N" turns NWB into WB, which reads as the opposite instruction. Similarly, the assistance levels Min A, Mod A, and Max A look alike at a glance and are easy to swap.

Abbreviations patients shouldn't see: writing them out in discharges

The physical therapy note is written in shorthand. The discharge instructions, on the other hand, are what the patient takes home, so they should be written in plain language anyone can understand.

Here's the same visit written both ways.

In the physical therapy note:

On the discharge:

Writing a discharge means decoding the physical therapy note into home exercise instructions, precautions, activity guidance, and follow-up, which takes time. It's the same routine, patient after patient. Retyping "perform each exercise once a day" or "contact the clinic if you have concerns" takes only a few seconds each time, but it adds up to minutes that clinical staff could spend on patient care.

To save time, Text Blaze lets you keep this wording and reuse it at any point in seconds. Typing the shortcut inserts the saved text into a patient portal, email, or discharge, and you can still review and adjust the wording for each patient.

Type the short form, get the full phrase: a 2-minute setup

Text Blaze saves the full wording behind a physical therapy abbreviation under a keyboard shortcut. Instead of typing a long phrase again and again, you type the shortcut and the full text appears.

For example, save this snippet in your dashboard:

Save it with your preferred phrasing under the shortcut /hepi, and typing /hepi in any software inserts the full sentence.

You can also tailor it to each patient by adding drop-down menus for the program status, performance, and understanding. When you type the shortcut, a small form opens so you can pick what happened for that patient. The usual answers are preselected, so when the visit went as planned you simply confirm and the sentence is inserted.

Setting up Text Blaze

Setup takes about two minutes: add the extension to Chrome or Edge, or install the Windows or Mac desktop app, then import a snippet pack. To get started quickly with pre-written lines, Text Blaze offers a free Physical Therapy Starter Kit with the one-liners PTs type in every note, such as /hepi, /vu for verbalized understanding, and /tolw for tolerated treatment well, which you can customize to match your clinic's wording. It works across browser-based EMRs, email, and installed desktop software, and you can get started on the free plan. For more, see Text Blaze for physical therapists.

Once your most-used phrases are saved as snippets and shared with your team, typing the full, clear version takes no longer than typing the abbreviation.