Objectives: The objective of this study is to determine the distribution and attributes of licensed physical therapy practitioners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional research study was conducted. Data were retrieved from the database of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties as of January 9, 2025. Data of all the licensed physical therapy practitioners were reviewed which included demographic characteristics, geographical distribution, educational institution, and workplace setting. Descriptive analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 19.0. Results: A total of 5720 physical therapists are licensed in Saudi Arabia according to the database of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties as of January 9, 2025. Mean age of the physical therapy practitioners is 36.26 ± 8.81 years. Over half ( n = 2970, 51.9%) of the physical therapy practitioners are males, and 70.6% ( n = 4038) of the workforce is ⩽40 years. The most frequently held academic qualification is bachelor’s degree ( n = 3871, 67.7%), with 63.4% ( n = 3624) and 10.8% ( n = 617) professionals ranked as specialists and senior specialists, respectively. According to administrative regions, Riyadh has the most numbers of physical therapy practitioners ( n = 1408, 24.6%), followed by Makkah ( n = 1059, 18.5%) and Eastern province ( n = 825, 14.4%). Physical therapy practitioners are almost equally employed in public ( n = 2707, 47.3%) and private ( n = 2555, 44.7%) settings in Saudi Arabia. Conclusions: Saudi Arabia has a fairly young physical therapy healthcare workforce with professionals equally balanced between male and females. However, there is a prominent geographical disparity of licensed physical therapy practitioners across administrative regions in the Saudi Arabia.
Afnan M. Alkhateeb (Sun,) studied this question.