About Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is a professional health care discipline directed primarily towards the prevention or alleviation of movement dysfunction. Physiotherapists are skilled in the assessment and management of a broad range of conditions that affect the musculoskeletal, circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems.

A physiotherapist is a university graduate of an accredited physiotherapy program, who is qualified to:

- establish a physical diagnosis and determine a client’s movement potential;

 
• - plan and implement physiotherapy treatment programs, using specialized knowledge and skills in exercise prescription and hands-on techniques for the prevention and treatment of movement dysfunction; and
 
• - undertake related professional activities such as research, teaching, administration and consultation.

Movement dysfunction is any alteration in normal body kinetics that limits effective or efficient body performance. Movement dysfunction may be due to pain, congenital anomalies, disease processes, accident or injury, enforced inactivity, problems secondary to aging, or psychological or social stress. The dysfunction may be manifested in actual or potential impairment related to neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, respiratory or cardiovascular systems.

You can find Nova Scotia physiotherapy clinics (both public and private) by visiting NSPA's Find-a-Physio Directory.

View our Halifax Chronicle-Herald supplement, issued in celebration of National Physiotherapy Month, May 2009.

General information about physiotherapy, in a user-friendly format, can be found in the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s consumer brochure.

Acknowledgement:  Thanks are extended to the Physiotherapy Association of BC and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association for content used in this section of our website.