Physiotherapy is a health care profession which provides services to individuals and populations to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability. This includes providing services in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by aging, injury, disease or environmental factors. Physiotherapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, treatment/intervention, habilitation and rehabilitation.
This encompasses physical, psychological, emotional, and social well being. Physiotherapy utilizes an individual’s history and physical examination to arrive at a diagnosis and establish a management plan, and when necessary, incorporate the results of laboratory and imaging studies. Physiotherapy has many specialties including cardiopulmonary, geriatrics, neurologic, orthopedic and pediatrics to name some of the more common areas.