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What is Physiotherapy?

Physiotherapy is a health science focused on the structures and movements of the human body. We use non-surgical treatments to manage a broad range of musculoskeletal conditions and chronic diseases that affect your bones, muscles, cardiovascular system and nerves.

We do that using techniques like massage, joint mobilisation, muscle stretches, dry needling, ultrasound and aids.

We’re here to improve your quality of life. Our goal is to help restore your body to its normal function so that you can go about your daily life as you choose.

When Should I See a Physiotherapist?

Common reasons to see a physiotherapist include:

Medical conditions like diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, stroke, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, cancer, lymphedema or palliative care.
Traumatic or repetitive strain injuries to soft tissues like your muscles, ligaments and tendons – think sprained ankles, twisted knees and tennis elbows.
Rehabilitation after a sport injury, car accident or operation.
Preventing injury through ergonomic assessments, occupational health, falls prevention programs or biomechanical assessments to mitigate weaknesses.

How Does Physiotherapy Work?

Physiotherapy is a complex practice. When we meet you as a new patient in pain, we aim to:

Examine you thoroughly and take a full history
Diagnose your condition
Relieve your symptoms
Address any underlying vulnerabilities that may have contributed to your condition.

When you take all those factors into account, no two cases are ever the same! We’re all at different stages of life and physical fitness. We have different daily activities and responsibilities. We have different goals and dreams.

A physiotherapist will create a tailored treatment plan for your condition based on scientific evidence and their own clinical judgement about which methods are most likely to suit your situation.

Who Benefits From Physiotherapy?

Really, we can all benefit from skilled, focused attention to improve our strength, flexibility, posture and biomechanics.

Physiotherapy has particular benefits for:

Athletes who want to improve their performance and reduce their risk of injury
Older people keen to maintain balance and strength to reduce falls risk
People seeking to manage chronic conditions
Women seeking care during or after pregnancy.

How Do You Access Physiotherapy?

That depends a bit on your reasons. If you’ve had certain kinds of surgery, a hospital physio will usually be sent to see you before you’re discharged. You may also be booked into a physiotherapy rehab clinic, attending the hospital as an outpatient.

If you want to see a physiotherapist in private practice, you can simply find a provider you like and make your own appointment.

If you’re living with a chronic condition, however, it may be worth seeing your GP first since they may be able to give you a chronic disease management plan, allowing you to access Medicare funding towards the cost of physio.

How is Private Physiotherapy Funded?

If you’re seeing a physio in private practice, then you’ll usually need to pay in full at the end of each visit.

The costs of physiotherapy may be subsidised by:

Your health fund if you have extras cover
Medicare if you have a chronic disease management plan from your GP that includes physiotherapy.

How Many Physio Treatments Will I Need?

There’s no simple answer to that. It depends a great deal on your condition. Your recovery is influenced by the nature of your injury, your age, your dedication to doing your physio exercises and your ability to rest the injured tissue (not as simple as it sounds if you’re caring for a baby or have an inflexible job).

Physiotherapy treatment tends to take place over a series of visits. As your movement and function improve, we progress to more challenging exercises to further build your strength.

What Qualifications Do Physiotherapists Have?

It takes many years to become a physiotherapist.

We have to:

Complete a bachelor’s degree, masters degree or doctorate in physiotherapy
Undergo supervised practice in a clinical setting
Register with the National Physiotherapy Board of Australia
Undertake continuing professional development.

Where Do Physios Work?

Physiotherapists work in a range of healthcare settings. You might see us in a hospital, in private practice, in a community outreach clinic, in residential aged care facilities or working alongside sports teams.

These days, we can even work at your place! You can see the physiotherapists at The Brisbane Spine Clinic over telehealth or you can book a home visit.

Why Should I Choose The Brisbane Spine Clinic?

We established The Brisbane Spine Clinic to offer patients an alternative to surgery or other invasive and expensive techniques.

We’re here to provide holistic treatment, using our clinical expertise to explore all underlying causes of your pain to create a comprehensive treatment plan.

We won’t patch you up quickly and send you on your way. Instead, we use a problem-solving, results-based, goal-focused clinical approach to get to the root of your condition and achievable measurable improvements.

If you’d like to try physio, then make an appointment today.