Physiotherapist Brunswick — restoring movement, strength and performance

Physiotherapy is the assessment and treatment of problems with movement — muscles, joints, tendons and the way they work together. A physiotherapist diagnoses what is causing the problem, treats it with hands-on techniques and prescribed exercise, and gives you a plan to stop it recurring. Physiotherapists in Australia are university-trained and registered with AHPRA.

Physiotherapy at Brunswick Health focuses on musculoskeletal and sports problems, including:

• Sports injuries — hamstring, calf, ankle, knee and shoulder
• Back and neck pain, including disc-related and postural pain
• Tendon problems such as Achilles, rotator cuff and tennis elbow
• Post-operative rehabilitation, including knee and shoulder surgery
• Workplace and repetitive strain injuries
• Joint stiffness and loss of range after injury or immobilisation

Both manage musculoskeletal problems, but the emphasis differs. Physiotherapy leans towards exercise-based rehabilitation — restoring strength, control and load tolerance — while chiropractic leans towards hands-on joint and spinal techniques. Neither is better in general; they suit different problems and different people. Plenty of problems respond to either. Brunswick Health has both in the same practice, so if you start with one and the other is a better fit, you can be moved across without a new referral, a new waiting list, or repeating your history from the beginning.

Read about chiropractic care

No. You can book a physiotherapist directly in Australia. A GP referral is only needed if you are claiming under a Medicare Chronic Disease Management plan, or if your visit is being funded through WorkCover or the TAC.

Most treatment is comfortable. Some hands-on techniques and some rehabilitation exercises produce short-lived discomfort, particularly when working on a stiff or irritable area, and you may feel sore for a day afterwards in the way you would after unfamiliar exercise. Treatment should not be something you have to endure — tell your physiotherapist if it is, and the approach will be changed.

It depends on what is wrong and how long it has been there. A recent, uncomplicated strain may need two or three visits; a post-operative knee or a long-standing tendon problem is usually a programme over several months. Your physiotherapist will give you an expected range after the first assessment, and will tell you if you are not responding as expected rather than continuing indefinitely.

Yes. The plan comes out of your assessment and your goals — returning to a sport, lifting at work, sleeping through the night — and is adjusted as you progress. You should leave the first appointment knowing what the diagnosis is, what the plan is, and roughly how long it should take.

Clothing you can move in, and that allows the affected area to be seen. Shorts are useful for knee, hip or ankle problems; a singlet or loose t-shirt for shoulder and neck problems. If you are coming straight from work, there are facilities to change.

Physiotherapy claims on any extras policy that includes it, with the rebate depending on your level of cover and your remaining annual limit. Brunswick Health claims on the spot with all major funds, so you pay only the gap on the day.

Usually yes, often with modifications. Complete rest weakens tissue and delays return to sport, so the aim is normally to keep you loading what you safely can while the injured area recovers. Your physiotherapist will tell you what to keep doing, what to change, and what to leave alone for now.

It can help. A physiotherapist can identify the strength deficits, movement patterns and training-load errors that make certain injuries more likely, and give you targeted work to address them. That is most useful for people returning from an injury, since a previous injury is the strongest predictor of the next one.

Yes. Physiotherapy during pregnancy commonly addresses pelvic girdle and low back pain, and positioning and techniques are adapted accordingly. Tell the clinic you are pregnant when booking so enough time is allowed and the appointment is set up appropriately.

It can, though the approach differs from treating a fresh injury. Long-standing musculoskeletal pain is usually managed with graded activity, strength work and education about load and pacing, rather than passive treatment alone. Progress is measured in what you can do rather than in how the area feels on the day.

Yes. Telehealth appointments run as a one-on-one video consultation and suit follow-up sessions, exercise progression and advice where hands-on treatment is not the main thing needed. A first appointment for a new injury is better in person, since assessment usually requires hands-on testing.

Follow-up visits re-test what was assessed the first time, progress your exercises, and change the treatment where something is not responding. Visits usually move further apart as you improve. If you are not responding the way the first assessment suggested you would, your physiotherapist will tell you and adjust the plan rather than repeating it.

A first physiotherapy consultation and examination at Brunswick Health is $125, and a standard follow-up is $115. Sixty-minute extended appointments are $215 for a first visit and $200 after that. A shockwave therapy session is $78 and compression-boot lymphatic drainage is $40. Those are the full fees — physiotherapy claims on any extras policy that includes it, and Brunswick Health claims on the spot through HICAPS, so what you pay on the day is the gap.

Current fees and health fund item codes

An extended appointment runs a full 60 minutes and exists so that complex or multiple problems can be assessed properly in one visit rather than split across several. It is $215 for a first visit and $200 after that. Book one if you have more than one thing to deal with, or a long-standing problem with a complicated history. If you are not sure, book a standard appointment and say what is going on when you arrive.

Book an update consultation if it has been three months or more since your last visit, or if this is a new problem — it is $125 and allows time to reassess rather than picking up mid-plan. If you are continuing with something already being treated and the gap has been shorter than that, a standard consultation is the right one.

Only under a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan, which your GP decides you qualify for. Under one, Medicare rebates $63.40 per session as at July 2026 for up to 5 allied health sessions per calendar year across physiotherapy, chiropractic and podiatry combined — a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage, so a gap payment applies. Bulk billing is not available at Brunswick Health. Without a care plan, physiotherapy is claimed through private health extras rather than Medicare.

How Medicare care plan claiming works

Usually not. Most musculoskeletal problems are diagnosed from your history and a physical examination, and imaging is recommended only where the result would change what happens next. If a scan is needed, your physiotherapist writes the referral and bulk billing is requested wherever it applies. The imaging itself is taken and billed by a radiology centre, so any cost is theirs to confirm with you.

Yes — post-operative rehabilitation is one of the main things physiotherapy is used for, including after knee and shoulder surgery. Treatment works within the protocol and restrictions your surgeon has set, restoring range of movement first and then strength and function. Bring any written post-operative instructions to the first appointment, and say who operated and when.

Yes. Children can be assessed and treated for musculoskeletal and sporting problems, with techniques and loading adapted to their age and stage of growth. Growth-related heel and knee pain in active children is a common reason to come in. Where a problem sits outside musculoskeletal care, your physiotherapist will refer you to the right person rather than treating around it.

Physiotherapy diagnoses what is causing the problem and treats it with hands-on techniques plus prescribed exercise; remedial massage works on soft tissue to reduce tightness and soreness. They are often used together — massage for the muscular symptoms, physiotherapy for what is driving them. Brunswick Health has both in the same practice, so if you start with one and the other turns out to be the better fit, you can be moved across without repeating your history from the beginning.

Read about massage therapy

Some symptoms need an emergency department or 000 now, rather than an appointment and rather than a call to the clinic first. Get emergency medical care if:

• Back pain came with loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness around the groin
• One side of the face droops or is numb
• Words are slurred, or there is sudden trouble speaking or understanding speech
• There is loss of sight in one or both eyes
• There is chest pain or tightness with breathlessness, sweating, or pain spreading into the jaw or arm
• The pain followed a significant fall, crash or direct blow
• There is fever, unexplained weight loss, or night pain that wakes you and will not settle in any position
• There is progressive weakness in a leg or arm rather than pain alone
• You have a history of cancer, osteoporosis or long-term steroid use and this is a new pain

Anything else is worth booking for. If you are unsure which side of the line you are on, call (03) 9380 8099 and describe it. Practitioners at Brunswick Health screen for every one of these before treating, and if you describe one you will be told the same thing and helped to get seen rather than booked in.