14/08/2025
Yesterday my good friend James Schomburgk did a post saying he wouldn't employ a physio in his clinics who is anti manual therapy ( I paraphrase as James cited the physio in question was sceptical of manual therapy research findings but not other research findings including exercise therapy).
I'd like to double down on this sentiment.
We practice in the Australian private practice system.
Most ( but not all) patients have acute pain, or an acute exacerbation of a chronic problem.
These problems respond to manual therapy. There is evidence these problems respond to manual therapy.
If you are a physio who does not use manual therapy you should not be working with patients with acute pain in a private practice setting.
Patients with acute pain want pain relief!
This is why they come to physio.
They do not want to be told they will get better on their own and sent on their way. They do not want a know it all physio quoting studies at them.
After all, what is their biggest complaint from their GP appointment?
"The doctor didn't even touch me!".
If you don't believe in manual therapy, don't work in Aussie private practice.
For those who think manual therapy sucks?
Try asking your patients in acute pain what they actually want...
For those operating a second opinion service with chronic pain patients only don't drop your bs opinions here as they aren't relevant.
If you work in private practice physio in Australia you need to stop treating everyone like a chronic pain patient with yellow flags galore, because I can tell you after 20+ years practising in this setting this is one of the most harmful things you can do.
Mismanagement of acute pain and injury is rife in physio these days, let's draw a line in the sand and stop it in it's tracks.
