Sharing is Caring... Team RT are here to share our industry knowledge on Physiotherapists!

Sharing is Caring... Team RT are here to share our industry knowledge!

Before I had the need to use one myself (many moons ago during a sciatica fuelled pregnancy), I was none-the-wiser on what a physiotherapist actually did! Which got Team RT thinking that there are many occupations within the health and wellbeing sector that people may not be familiar with, what the purpose of a certain role may be and why we have them.?

So, we decided that we would share information in the coming weeks to guide you through a variety of roles within the health and wellbeing sector - which just happens to be roles that we specialise in recruiting for on behalf of our clients!

With a Physiotherapist amongst our team, we thought that would be a great place to kick off our educational journey!?

What is a Physiotherapist and how do I become one?

Physiotherapists come in many forms and they offer help to people in a variety of ways. Specific areas to help treat their patients includes movement issues, injury recovery and athletic performance improvement.?

In order to become a physiotherapist, you would need to complete a Degree programme. A physio would then move into a desired field of expertise to practice in a range of different areas of physiotherapy, and may undertake further study to become a specialist in their chosen field. Because some specialisations are in higher demand or may be more study-intensive, there is a salary difference among these varied specialised roles. There are in fact seven different types of physiotherapy specialisations... who knew!

Thanks to the information found on Indeed, we have used their guide to expected salary and overall job descriptors to help you better understand each specialist field of being a physiotherapist.?

1. Pain management physiotherapist

National average salary: ￡68,630 per year

Primary duties: Pain management and rehabilitation from disease, surgery or injury is a common specialisation for physiotherapists, who help reduce various aches and pains that develop with age or from injuries, illness or surgery. Rehabilitation physiotherapists create customised pain management and exercise plans that address the immediate and underlying causes of the pain or discomfort via various exercises and therapeutic activities. Some physiotherapists are also qualified to prescribe and administer medicines to their patients.

By creating a personalised exercise plan, a physiotherapist can help to correct a patient's gait or standing and sitting posture to address the underlying causes of the injury or discomfort. The patient remedies the poor movement habits that caused discomfort by strengthening or stretching specific muscle groups. In cases of significant issues, such as a stroke, the physiotherapist may also work with other medical professionals to provide a faster recovery and restoration of function.

2. Neurological physiotherapist?

National average salary: ￡47,029 per year

Primary duties: Neurological physiotherapists primarily care for patients with critical injuries of the spinal cord or such degenerative conditions as multiple sclerosis, stroke or Parkinson's. Addressing these issues often takes a significant understanding of the brain and the functioning of the nervous system. In many cases, neurological physiotherapists' ability to repair the loss of function is limited by the nervous system's ability to recover from injury. A common focus for neurological physiotherapists is maintaining function and preventing further function loss in their patients.

To provide effective therapeutic interventions, a neurological physiotherapist builds an understanding of a wide variety of neurological conditions affecting their patients. These can be sudden onset, intermittent, progressive or stable, with symptoms varying from migraines to tremors, or even significant loss of mobility and muscular degeneration. Because of the wide variety of possible neurological injuries and diseases, neurological physiotherapists often provide lifestyle and care education to the family or carers of their patients, alongside direct interventions.

3. Women's health physiotherapist

National average salary: ￡45,259 per year

Primary duties: Women's health physiotherapists help female patients to deal with a range of movement and pain issues. Historically, these physiotherapists generally concentrated on movement and posture issues related to pregnancy and childbirth: they helped women address the significant bodily changes during pregnancy and provided advice on how to minimise any lasting effects of pregnancy and strategies for faster healing and recovery after childbirth. The range of specialised therapies and treatment options for female-specific concerns has expanded significantly in the past few decades.

This field of physiotherapy now helps women of all ages deal with various specific movement and posture issues. Women's health physiotherapists address sexual health, bladder and bowel issues, plus pelvic floor muscle strengthening. They usually have a significant degree of expertise in the hormonal and neurological concerns specific to the female body. Some women's health physiotherapists become further specialised as pelvic floor physiotherapists, primarily helping new mothers to address pelvic floor issues and recover from pregnancy and childbirth.

4. Paediatric physiotherapist

National average salary: ￡42,167 per year

Primary duties: Paediatric physiotherapists work with infants and children, providing early interventions for problems with movement and aiding injury recovery. They are often experts in childhood development and work on a range of issues, from injuries to congenital disabilities and genetic disorders. They help to address orthopaedic, cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal and neurological concerns. Paediatric physiotherapists are often knowledgeable about childhood injuries and developmental issues. They use a keen understanding of developmental child psychology to help their patients stick to therapeutic exercises and activities.

Specialising in paediatric physiotherapy involves building trusting relationships with patients and their parents or carers. Because a significant portion of the therapeutic activity takes place at home, explaining the reasons for each activity to the parent or carer is an essential part of the work. By helping to educate the patient's parents or carers, a paediatric physiotherapist ensures that the child has the support that they need to perform the therapeutic activities correctly. They can often improve the efficacy of the therapy by creating a game out of the exercises to keep the patient consistent in their practice.

5. Sports physiotherapist

National average salary: ￡38,680 per year

Primary duties: Sports physiotherapists work with professional and amateur athletes to ensure healthy and competitive functioning. One of their significant responsibilities is to provide advice and therapeutic exercises or treatments to prevent injury. They closely observe their patients and look for signs of injury or dysfunction during their athletic performance. In regular diagnosis and therapy sessions, they identify and remedy injuries early and prevent more severe injuries from developing.

Many sports are demanding on the athlete's body, so sports physiotherapists are crucial in providing therapeutic help and aiding recovery from injury. When an injury does occur, the physiotherapist provides critical care at the time of the injury, plus designing and managing a recovery plan. By providing consistent and continuous support, a sports physiotherapist helps an athlete recover quickly and progress towards peak physical performance safely. Sports physiotherapists are often present during sports competitions to provide immediate support to athletes in case of injury.

6. Vestibular physiotherapist?

National average salary: ￡38,649 per year

Primary duties: Vestibular physiotherapists support a patient's recovery of their sense of balance following disruptions to the vestibular system, a combination of several senses and organs (most notably in the inner ear) that affect balance. By addressing the underlying causes of these issues and providing exercises and therapeutic activities, the vestibular physiotherapist helps restore the sense of balance and reduce symptoms like vertigo.

Vestibular physiotherapists administer inner ear positional testing to assess their patients' specific causes of vertigo or dizziness. By first understanding the kind of vertigo a patient is experiencing and then addressing the likely root causes, they restore comfort and a patient's ability to function. These therapies often improve a patient's standing and walking sense of balance, reduce dizziness and improve visual stability. Because the vestibular system is complex, these specialised physiotherapists often pursue specialised training.

7. Hand physiotherapist

National average salary: ￡20,500 per year

Primary duties: Hand physiotherapists provide specialist care and supervision tailored to the complex, sensitive nature of the hand to treat injuries and damage from the disease. Hand physiotherapists assess problems related to hand function and provide advice to their patients on how to improve it, including muscle strengthening and stretching exercises, therapeutic activities, or interventions like electrical stimulation.

*Article adapted courtesy of Indeed Career Advice https://uk.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/types-of-physiotherapists