Physiotherapists are primary health care professionals with a significant role in health promotion and treatment of injury and disease. They are ‘direct access’ health professionals that do not require a MD’s referral to book an appointment.
They combine their in-depth knowledge of the body and how it works with specialized hands-on clinical skills to assess, diagnose and treat symptoms of illness, injury or disability.
Physiotherapy is now a Master’s level program and therefore requires the physiotherapist to have completed a minimum of 6 years of University education which includes a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in Science in Physiotherapy.
All physiotherapists registered to practice in Canada are qualified to provide safe and effective physiotherapy. They have met national entry-level education and practice standards, and have successfully passed a standardized physiotherapy competence examination prior to being registered with the college of physiotherapists in their province/territory.