How to Find the Right Physiotherapist for you! 

Written by Sal – Director and Founder of Barefoot Physiotherapy in Brisbane. Est 2012 

How to find the right physiotherapist for you! I’m going to start this blog by saying we are not for everyone, and that’s ok. Our ideal clients have a joy for life, are enthusiastic and interested. Interested in themselves, others and the world. You may not be able to do what you want right now and are looking for someone to walk beside you on a journey to feeling better and doing more of the things you love. Your body may be holding you back from something you want to do and you understand getting to the root cause is important, and takes time and effort with a physio working with you along the way. You value honest communication, feeling truly welcome and being listened to. You appreciate highly prepared, knowledgeable and caring health professionals. 

Now I studied Physiotherapy because I truly care about helping people. I believe helping people connect with the right Health Professional for them is a wonderful thing. And that does not have to be at my clinic for a multitude of reasons: 

1. We are a Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy clinic (you may need a different type of physio or a different profession) 

2. We are in Tennyson, Brisbane and you may not live here 

3. You may not be our ideal client (you read the paragraph above and think: well that all sounds a bit much) – no problem 

The basics of how to find the right physiotherapist for you

To call yourself a Physiotherapist in Australia you need to be registered with AHPRA – you can look up if a physio is registered here. We have a strict Code of Conduct and require significant ongoing Professional Development to satisfy our Registration Board.  

Physiotherapists come in many different varieties. Bolded is what we take care of at Barefoot.  

• Musculoskeletal (is the one you would often think of and what we work in 
• Sports (likely some crossover with above – we work with a variety of sports) 
• Neurological (work with people with Neurological disorders in hospital as well as in the community. Think: stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s, vestibular disorders) 
• Cardiothoracic (take care of people with respiratory problems as well as hospital inpatients. Includes ICU work) 
• Paediatric (work with children – ranges from developmental Paediatrics to Adolescent Sporting – we work with Adolescent sports (age 10 and up) and refer the rest to Paediatric physios) 
• Orthopaedics (pre and post of care and conservative care of Orthopaedic injury – think broken bones and joint replacements – we work in this field too) 
• Surgical/Medical (in hospital care of Medical and Surgical patients on the wards) 
• Womens Health (specific concerns to women) 
• Occupational (work place assessment and ergonomics) – we help people return to work post injury but don’t describe what we do as occupational even though this falls under this category.  
• There are more specialty areas including Oncology, Lymphodema, Mens Health, Hands, Animals, Emergency, Pain, Mental Health, Aquatic, Gerontology that are all self explanatory. 

As you can see Physiotherapy covers a broad range of areas. And for the standard person Googling ‘How do I find the right Physiotherapist’ I’m going to assume you want someone to help you with something Musculoskeletal in nature (eg back pain, headaches, rolled ankle).  

Key to good care 

The impact a good Physiotherapist can have on your life is high. Physiotherapy is one of the most trusted professions and the most referred to Allied Health by GPs. Things to look for in a Health Professional that would tend to indicate a good fit for you: 

• Connection/good rapport 
• Great communication 
• Good support for the therapist (they have time to prepare for you) 
• Potentially have a special interest in the area you are needing help with (read their bio on the website) 

Tips from Sal for Finding the Right Physiotherapist for you 

• Reach out to them for a chat or to answer some questions by email. Great physios love to hear from people who want help. If you find the interaction good that is a great start.  
• Remember that how you do anything is how you do everything so take note of the things that matter to you on their website or social media.  
• Ask questions! 

Practical aspects 

• Parking! It is my opinion that this is essential (hence why we have a clinic with 20 car parks) but that may not matter as much to you.  
• How far from home. We have people travelling from all over Brisbane to see us with the majority within 10-20min away. If you come to Barefoot it’s likely we’ll need to see you a couple of times a week to start with but this decreases and ideally we have you solved and feeling better and we can space the treatments out so. I believe travelling for good care is appropriate as long as it fits with your lifestyle.  
• Hours availability – make sure the clinic and practitioner are open and have availability at times that you can make.  

Book for treatment 

If you think you have found the right Physiotherapist for you please reach out. To book with us you can do so ONLINE or phone the clinic 1300 842 850 to have a talk to one of the physios. If you aren’t from Brisbane we do treat people in bursts while they are visiting. We have treated people from all over Australia and people visiting from overseas! Alternatively you’re welcome to reach out to see if we have recommendations in your area. 

You may be interested in reading the What to Expect page of our website or have a read through the different pages under the Our Services drop down menu on the Homepage