Reviewed by Matt Stanlake — Head Physiotherapist & Director, Upwell Health Collective. APA Member. AHPRA Registration: PHY0000975408. 20 years clinical experience. Last reviewed: May 2026.
The short answer: Physiotherapists treat acute injuries and pain through hands-on assessment, manual therapy, and exercise prescription. Exercise physiologists prevent and manage chronic conditions through structured clinical exercise programs. You see a physio for a recent injury, sharp pain, or post-surgical rehabilitation. You see an exercise physiologist for diabetes, heart conditions, chronic pain, or when you are ready to build long-term strength after physio. Many patients see both at different stages of recovery.
Physiotherapists are AHPRA-registered first-contact practitioners specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal, neurological, and cardiorespiratory conditions. They are trained to assess pain, restore movement, reduce disability, and rehabilitate injuries through hands-on treatment combined with prescribed exercise.
A typical physiotherapy appointment involves history-taking, physical assessment, manual therapy such as joint mobilisation, soft tissue release or dry needling, exercise prescription, and pain education. Physiotherapists are the go-to practitioners for acute injuries, sharp pain, post-surgical recovery, and any musculoskeletal problem requiring diagnosis.
The Australian Physiotherapy Association notes that physiotherapists complete a minimum of four years of university training and can refer patients for imaging, write reports for insurers, and work as primary care providers without a GP referral.
Accredited Exercise Physiologists are university-trained allied health professionals accredited through Exercise and Sports Science Australia. They specialise in clinical exercise interventions for chronic and complex medical conditions.
Where physiotherapists focus on diagnosing and treating injuries, exercise physiologists focus on structured long-term exercise programs to manage and prevent chronic disease. They treat conditions like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, mental health conditions, osteoporosis, arthritis, chronic pain, and obesity through exercise prescription tailored to your medical condition.
Exercise physiologists typically do not perform hands-on manual therapy. Their primary tool is exercise itself — designed and progressed with the same precision a physiotherapist applies to rehabilitation, but with a chronic disease management lens.
"The simplest way I explain it to patients is this. Physio gets you out of pain. Exercise physiology keeps you out of pain. They are complementary, not competing. The patients who do best with persistent or complex conditions usually work with both at different stages of their recovery." — Matt Stanlake, Head Physiotherapist, Upwell Health Collective
See a physiotherapist when you have a specific injury, acute pain, recent surgery, or a problem you cannot diagnose yourself. Examples include lower back pain that started after lifting, a rolled ankle, post-knee-reconstruction rehab, a shoulder injury from sport, a sudden onset of sciatica, headaches with a neck component, or any pain limiting your normal function.
See an exercise physiologist when you have a diagnosed chronic condition needing long-term exercise management, when you have completed physiotherapy and need a structured program to maintain progress, or when you need clinical exercise programming for a medical condition. Examples include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, chronic lower back pain that has been investigated, NDIS participants requiring structured strength and conditioning, post-cancer rehabilitation, or osteoporosis prevention and management.
Yes. In fact, this is increasingly common at multidisciplinary clinics like Upwell. A typical patient pathway might look like this: physio treats your acute lower back pain over 6 to 8 weeks with manual therapy and home exercises. Once acute pain is controlled, the patient transitions to exercise physiology for a 12-week structured strength program targeting the underlying causes — weakness, deconditioning, postural patterns — that contributed to the initial injury.
The two professions overlap intentionally in the middle. The handover from physio to exercise physiology is where many patients experience the most meaningful change, because they finally get the structured progressive loading their body needs after the pain is gone.
No. Both physiotherapists and exercise physiologists are first-contact primary care providers in Australia. You can book directly with either without seeing a GP first.
You only need a GP referral if you want to claim through Medicare under a Chronic Disease Management plan, the NDIS in some cases, WorkCover, CTP insurance, or DVA. Private health insurance does not require a referral for either profession.
For acute or recent back pain, see a physiotherapist first. They diagnose the cause and treat the pain. For chronic back pain that has been investigated and managed acutely, exercise physiology delivers superior long-term outcomes through structured progressive exercise.
No. Exercise physiologists are not trained to diagnose musculoskeletal injuries. They work from established diagnoses, often referred by physiotherapists or GPs. If you have undiagnosed pain, see a physiotherapist or GP first.
Yes, under a Chronic Disease Management plan from a GP. The rebate is $60.35 per session, identical to physiotherapy, and shares the same 5-session annual cap across all allied health services combined.
Yes. Most Australian private health funds with extras cover include exercise physiology benefits. Rebate amounts vary by fund and policy level, typically $30 to $70 per session.
Generally no. Exercise physiologists do not perform manual therapy, joint mobilisation, dry needling, or massage. Their treatment tool is structured therapeutic exercise.
Exercise physiology initial assessments typically run 60 minutes. Subsequent sessions range from 30 to 60 minutes depending on program complexity. At Upwell our exercise physiology appointments are 45 to 60 minutes.
Upwell Health Collective in Camberwell is one of the few allied health clinics in the inner-east where physiotherapy and exercise physiology operate in the same clinic, sharing patient notes and collaborating directly on treatment plans. 28 free undercover carparks. All health funds accepted via HICAPS. NDIS registered. Book online at upwellhealth.com.au or call (03) 8849 9096.
Matt Stanlake is the Head Physiotherapist and Director of Upwell Health Collective in Camberwell. He is a member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APAM) and AHPRA-registered (PHY0000975408) with 20 years of clinical experience. Matt has built Upwell into a 7x award-winning multidisciplinary allied health clinic trusted by AFL legends Mick Malthouse and Jonathan Brown. He is the author of Not Broken and the creator of the Whole Person Care framework.