After experiencing an injury or recovering from joint surgery, you could be seeing a new range of medical professionals. Different medical and allied health professionals will work together to gain the best outcomes for you, to help you manage and recover from your injury or surgery. An allied health professional refers to someone who is a healthcare worker but not a doctor, nurse, midwife or dentist.
Exercise Physiologists and Physiotherapists are two allied health professionals who you will likely encounter on your rehabilitation journey. There are some similarities between the roles that Physiotherapists and Exercise Physiologists perform, both professions are recognised by Medicare, private health insurance, NDIS, department of veteran’s affairs and work cover. Exercise Physiologist sand Physiotherapists will have similar end goals for your treatment, however most of our skill sets lie in different areas.
When managing and recovering from injuries or from surgery, there are different stages to soft tissue healing. These include:
- the acute inflammatory phase (up to 72 hours after an injury)
- subacute repair phase (a few days to 6 weeks after injury/surgery)
- the remodelling phase (from approximately 12 weeks post injury/surgery)
- return to work/play and injury prevention (beyond 12 weeks post injury/surgery)
In the initial stages of rehabilitation, a physiotherapist is best suited to manage the surgical site or injury with goals of reducing inflammation, swelling and discomfort. As you progress through your rehabilitation journey, goals will change to include movement and to get you moving. This is where an Exercise Physiologist would step in and work alongside your physiotherapist, perform assessments and prescribe exercises to gradually increase loading at your injury or surgical site to encourage repair and remodelling of the tissues. Remodelling of the tissue includes developing strength and endurance in the muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones to repair more effectively and become as strong and resilient as possible. Later in the rehabilitation journey, Exercise Physiologists will focus on exercise interventions to help you get back to sport, work or other activities. In a sporting context, Exercise Physiologists can improve landing and jumping mechanics, agility and sport-specific movements. Late-stage rehabilitation also has a large focus on the prevention of re-injury.
Physiotherapists are experts at managing injuries or post-surgical rehabilitation at the acute stage, meaning within the first few weeks of an injury or surgery. They will help to control swelling and pain, increase range of motion, and get you moving by using soft tissue therapy (massage and dry needling), joint mobilisation, prescribing mobility aids (for example, crutches, walkers, slings), and exercises to activate and strengthen muscles and improve joint movement.
Physiotherapists are very valuable when you have an injury as they can conduct assessments and provide a diagnosis, or provide a referral for further testing, such as an X-Ray or MRI. Due to the hands-on nature of some of their work, physiotherapy is very effective for managing flare ups and managing stubborn aches and pains.
When to see a physiotherapist:
- After a sporting injury
- If your pain is new or unexpected
- To have your injury or pain diagnosed
- If you have recently had orthopaedic surgery
- For hands-on treatment (dry needling, joint mobilisation, massage)
Exercise physiologists use movement and exercise to help you continue recovering and moving after injury or surgery. Generally, treatment with an Exercise Physiologist begins a few weeks after injury or surgery and works in conjunction with physiotherapy treatment. An exercise physiologist may conduct movement, flexibility, and strength assessments, which will make your exercise program individually tailored to you.
Exercise physiologists are ‘hands-off’ and work holistically to help you move your whole body and focus on exercises and techniques to address and treat compensatory patterns, continue rehabilitating your injury or surgical site and help you to return to activities such as work, sport or other things in life that you want to continue doing. Exercise physiologists are experts in exercise and understand how the body responds to exercise, as well as how best to use exercise programs to help you recover from injury or surgery, including managing other health conditions and following surgery-specific considerations.
When to see an Exercise Physiologist:
- To manage chronic health conditions or old/ongoing injuries and pain
- To return to work, sport, activities
- If you have a weight loss or health management goal
- For an ongoing exercise program for rehabilitation or to meet health and fitness goals
Throughout your rehabilitation, you may need to continue seeing both an exercise physiologist and physiotherapist to continue your program, to progress exercises or to manage any setbacks that can happen during your rehabilitation journey. Seeing a physiotherapist and exercise physiologist during your rehabilitation provides you with the best opportunity to develop your physical strength and fitness while recovering for injury or surgery and will help you to get back to the activities that you love most.