Occupation
Physiotherapist
Physiotherapists assess movement and function and treat pain, injury, and disability with exercise, manual therapy, and education. Much of the skill is diagnostic reasoning about why a movement pattern hurts, and much of the outcome depends on whether the patient does the programme between sessions. Settings range from hospital wards to sports clinics to people's homes.
Also known as: Physical therapist · PT · Physio
Occupation content
Part of Healthcare and clinical services
What the work involves
- Assess posture, strength, range of motion, gait, and pain behaviour, and form a working diagnosis.
- Set functional goals with the patient and design a graded exercise programme.
- Deliver manual therapy, mobilisation, and other hands-on techniques where indicated.
- Teach and progress home exercise, pacing, and self-management strategies.
- Re-assess at intervals and change the plan when progress stalls or symptoms shift.
- Write assessment and discharge reports for referrers, insurers, or the multidisciplinary team.
How people commonly enter
- An entry-to-practice physiotherapy degree recognised by the jurisdiction's regulator.
- A graduate-entry physiotherapy programme taken after a first degree in another subject.
- A credential-assessment and examination route for physiotherapists trained elsewhere.
Typical training: Postgraduate or professional degree
Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Public facing · Team based · Physically active · Varied work · Client sites · Predictable routine
Related interests
Social (helping) · Realistic (hands-on) · Investigative (analytical)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Healthcare and clinical services.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — Physical Therapists (29-1123.00) · United States
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- UK National Careers Service — Physiotherapist · United Kingdom
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- Canada Job Bank — Explore an occupation (search: physiotherapist) · Canada
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Healthcare and clinical services in Canada, not a figure for Physiotherapist. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Healthcare and clinical services family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: education pathways
Some roles in Healthcare and clinical services may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Physiotherapist”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)