Inclusive LGBTQIA + Physio in Brisbane 

Written by: Sal (she/her) – Founder of Barefoot Physiotherapy. Truly inclusive Healthcare is a fundamental Human Right and underpins the Values of our clinic. At Barefoot we believe we exist to empower people to confidently live the lives they choose. Our Values at Barefoot Physiotherapy are: 

1. To us you matter 

2. Commitment to excellence 

3. Bring the Fireworks! 

Meeting the Needs of the LGBTQIA+ Community 

I recently asked our clients to do their annual details update (so we know where to send nice things in the post and who to call if they’re poorly) and took the opportunity to add a couple of marketing questions in. One of them was: “If you didn’t know us and were searching on Google for a physio what would you type in”. And multiple people said LGBTQIA+ friendly physio. So, I checked and when you google that we don’t come up… so I’m sitting down now to change that. Do I have the kind of power to change that? Well, we’ll have to see.  

One of our Senior Physios (who’s highest value is Inclusion) and I had a discussion a couple of years ago about writing direct content into our website around being an inclusive clinic and we agreed that at the time it felt performative to write any specific blogs and we felt more aligned with auditing the whole website to ensure the language was inclusive, which we did. When you practise true inclusivity every day writing about it can feel weird. But then how do people know without meeting you. So here we are. Just as the acronym LGBTQIA+ is ever changing, the concept of gender and gender identity is also ever changing and evolving, which includes for an individual themselves, whose gender identity may change throughout the course of their lifetime. We understand this is a lifelong learning experience for us all.  

LGBTQIA+ Physio Brisbane

The aim of this blog is to rank highly enough on Google so that if “LGBTQIA+ physio Brisbane” is something you search for you end up in the right place. And by right place I mean reading our website and then deciding for yourself whether we may be the right people to help you with whatever it is you have going on in your body and life. Spoiler alert: we’re really good at what we do! (and we know you are too!) 

The Barefoot Physiotherapy and Brisbane Oasis 

Now I live in what is probably referred to by some as a ‘Leftie bubble’. I get to go to work with incredible humans, who take care of incredible humans from all walks of life, and we refer to and are referred to by (wait for it) incredible humans. We talk about Values, and Dreams and Goals and we continually work on our Soft Skills to ensure we connect wholeheartedly with those around us. It’s not all butterflies and rainbows because, as you know, living with Vulnerability means you have hard conversations (you know, that stuff your family doesn’t want to talk about at Christmas) and we own up to our stuff. 

My understanding is that this is in fact an oasis and is not the case everywhere, hence articulating clearly in this blog that we are LGBTQIA+ friendly physio Brisbane clinic and we would love to help take care of you if that’s what you need. 

Practical reasons we’re good at Inclusive/LGBTQIA+ Physio in Brisbane

• We are all trained in the Barefoot Physiotherapy Plan™ way of treating – hands on, multimodal, truly holistic and cutting edge. 
• We are highly skilled in Thoracic Rings, ribs and all the muscles, joints, ligaments that attach around that area. Why does that matter? We have higher level skills to manage or prevent issues that may arise with binders, top surgery, breast reduction, breast enlargement, breast lifts, posture and anything else I’ve forgotten to write. This includes scar management.  

• We are highly skilled in palpation around hips/pelvis/low back. Now this next bit doesn’t have to be for everyone (in fact we learn lots without this) but we have found hands on assessment of any area helpful and have developed an assessment we call the ‘Bike Pants Assessment’. It is the palpation assessment we do when we have you change into a pair of bike pants and palpate hamstring insertion/adductors/deep glutes. We often hear people say ‘nobody would have a feel of the area’ – we will (with your consent), its anatomy, it’s all related to how you move and function.  
• We provide great clothes in the change room to wear if you don’t have ones on that suit the assessment. We want you comfortable and feeling welcome! 
• We have physios with higher training in Pelvic Floor, Invisible Illness, Sports, Needling, Complex presentations and more.  
• We do regular training on our Softskills. In fact, we think it may be as valuable or even more valuable than all the practical training we do.  
• We hear you when you tell us the name you would like to be called and what pronouns you would like used. It’s not silly, it’s your name. If we make a mistake tell us, we’ll fix it. 
• All decisions on furniture and layout of the clinic is made with comfort and inclusivity in mind 
• One last thing: we know when we need to refer on and who to refer to if needed.  

Who else is out there doing great work in the LGBTQIA+ space in Brisbane?  

• Anybody (Exercise Physiology and Pilates – Milton) 
• Bodytrack (Exercise Physiology – Sherwood and Toowong) 
• Gray Mind (Psychology – Rosalie) 
• All Womens Health (Womens Health Physios – Paddington) 
• Wander and Nourish (Dietitian – Teneriffe) 
• Dr Carmen Main (GP – Hawthorne) 
• Dr Liz Hay (GP – Sherwood) 

And you? 

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. 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. And you appreciate highly prepared, knowledgeable and caring health professionals. 

Where to from here? 

I’m assuming the next best thing for you might be to reach out to us. You might feel ready to book so you can do that ONLINE. Or if you want to talk to one of the physios give the clinic a call on 1300 842 850  

I’m now going to give this to my superstar colleague Britt who while being an incredible Senior Physiotherapist also learnt to put blogs up on our website. She will tinker with them until Google likes them. Work your magic Britt! 

If you are reading this and have: 

1. Recommendation to add to the ‘who is out there doing great work in this space’ section and/or 

2. Ideas for things to add to this blog 

Please reach out to me on sal@barefootphysiotherapy.com.au I really do want to hear from you. Also, if this might be valuable to anyone you know please share it with them.