If PT school is right around the corner for you, you may find yourself wondering if there’s any specific gear or PT equipment that you’ll need to own. If you’re anything like me when I went through PT school, money will be extremely tight and purchasing/investing in equipment will be something that you don’t want to spend a ton of money on. Thankfully, there’s not too much gear you’ll have to purchase.

Aside from your standard school supplies needed for any academic program, there isn’t too much that you’ll have to worry about picking up before heading into PT school. You will need some very basic PT/healthcare gear (listed below), which you can likely get used if you play your cards right.

I’ve listed out the basic gear that you’re likely to need in a chart format below. Be sure to check out the information afterwards, where I talk about some steps to take for getting used gear for a cheaper price.

Here’s a quick list of PT-specific gear that you’ll likely need at various points throughout your schooling:

Also, here’s a quick pro tip: Write your name on your equipment!! Your classmates will likely be using the exact same gear you will be using, and this means people can accidentally take your gear thinking it’s theirs (I learned this the hard way). So, write your name on your gear!!

If you’re preparing to buy some PT gear and want to know what else you can do to effectively prepare for PT school, be sure to check out my article: How to Prepare for PT School: Five Smart Steps to Take, which will help you gain a solid understanding as to how you can effectively gear up for school and hit the ground running!

Hold off purchasing any gear until you know for certain you will need it

Now, before you run off and start to purchase the necessities I list off within this article, you may want to hold off on doing so before school actually starts up. There’s a few reasons for this:

The first reason is that your school may sell this equipment in a bundled package, as part of a student deal. This is exactly what my school did (for the vast majority of gear) and was quite cost-effective, much more so than purchasing everything individually.

The second reason is that it may perhaps be that your school will provide some of these materials for you (i.e. already billed into your tuition fees). While I doubt this to be the case, every school may be a bit different, so it’s worth finding out from your professors or department chair before making any purchases.

Regardless, you don’t need to purchase any of your gear before classes start up; your professors will let you know the gear that you will be expected to purchase, and will give you some time to do so.

How to get used PT gear for cheap

It’s important to realize that while you’re in PT school you don’t exactly need the top-of-the-line gear. You need tools that can get the job done, that’s it. Picking up used gear or even just borrowing gear can be a clutch move if you’re tight for cash.

The only piece of equipment that I recommend you don’t go as cheap as possible with is your stethoscope. Don’t get the most expensive one out there (would be more than you’d need to spend) but don’t get the absolute cheapest one either (you likely won’t be able to hear anything).

Your best “bang for your buck” stethoscope (in my personal opinion) is the Prestige Medical stethoscope. It’s relatively inexpensive and will get you through PT school just fine. It’s quality is good enough for school needs, so unless you plan on going into cardiopulmonary PT when entering practice, I would say there’s no need to get anything higher grade. This is the stethoscope that our cardiopulmonary professor recommended us to use, and it got the job done.

And while it’s certainly nice to own your own equipment for future use, chances are that you’ll be working in a clinic one day or for a company that supplies you with what you’ll need. What this all means is that it’s not necessary to get your gear in brand-new condition, or even purchase it for that matter, though you very well may have to.

Ask friends or the PT class above you if they’d be willing to part with or lend out their gear

If you have the money, then by all means purchase your gear new. It’s not terribly expensive and is quite nice to be able to call it your own. But, would I pay $20 – 30 bucks for a brand new gait belt when I could get a used one for much, much less (even free, perhaps)? Of course not. My mentality when I was in school was that I was already paying thousands of dollars for each course I was taking, so I didn’t want to spend more than I had to when it came to extra gear.

A great place to go for finding gear is through family friends as well as the PT class above you. When it comes to the class that’s a year ahead of you, many of them may no longer use certain pieces of equipment and be wiling to part with them for cheap.

If you have any friends or family friends who are in the health professions (nurses, doctors, etc.) ask them if they have any of this gear and if you could borrow it (or purchase it) for school. They may say “no”, but it never hurts to ask.

Again, this is not something everyone will need to do, but it’s a great way to save some money if needed.

Specific gear needed for gross anatomy

When it comes to gross anatomy, you might need to purchase some supplies that aren’t “PT-specific” per se, but may be required for you to pay for, so it’s worth quickly going over this.

This typically includes your supplies for dissections, specifically boxes of scalpels and nitrile gloves. Your school will likely have you purchase these materials since students tend to use a lot of them. You’ll likely burn through a few boxes of scalpels and gloves throughout the semester, so budget some money for these.

Your medical scrubs may be supplied to you, or you may have to purchase them (required to be worn in the cadaver lab). If you already have your own, this will come in handy in case the school requires you to have to purchase your own set. When I was in PT school, ours were supplied to us, but were billed into our course fees.

Concluding remarks

Since you’re already paying an arm and a leg in terms of tuition costs for PT school, it should be at least a bit of relief to you in knowing that there’s not much in the way of specific PT supplies that you will need to purchase. As well, it’s not very expensive equipment for the most part. Aside from your stethoscope, I’d get the cheapest gear you possibly can. If you really want some higher quality gear, you can pick some up AFTER you get through PT school. That’s my two cents.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you need to purchase all this equipment before the first day of school. Your professors will let you know what you’ll need to purchase and will give you a bit of time to do so. You’ll likely need to purchase everything outlined within this article, but it may not be a bad idea to hold off until you know you absolutely need to.

Again, this is all my personal insight, and your thoughts may be different, which is just fine. I’m all about saving students money wherever I can, as I have walked this road before.

The bottom line is that there’s not too much you have to worry about for what’s expected of you for PT-specific gear. The few staples that you’ll need are relatively inexpensive, easy to come by, and will easily last you through all your time in PT school.

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3. Does it Really Matter Which PT School in the US You Attend?
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