When telehealth physio works (and when it doesn't)
Telehealth is excellent for a lot of things, and limited for a few. Honest about both.
Great for:
- Exercise prescription and progression. Most of the rehab work is exercise selection and load management. We don't need to be in the room with you to design or update that.
- Follow-up appointments. Once you've had an in-person assessment, follow-ups via telehealth let us check progression, adjust the program and answer questions without you having to drive in.
- Education and movement coaching. Watching you squat, lunge, throw or run on camera tells us more than you'd think.
- Patients in regional, interstate or overseas locations. If you're nowhere near a clinic that does what we do (whether that's regional NSW or Rome), telehealth gives you access to clinical expertise that would otherwise be out of reach. We've treated patients in Italy and a steady mix of expat Australians living abroad.
- Workers' comp, NDIS and DVA patients for whom getting to the clinic regularly is hard.
- Time-poor professionals. A 30-minute video call beats a 90-minute round trip when you're trying to fit physio between meetings.
Better in clinic:
- First-ever appointment for an acute injury where hands-on assessment changes the diagnosis
- Manual therapy (joint mobilisation, soft tissue work, dry needling)
- Post-surgical patients in the first few weeks (we want to see the wound, swelling and range first-hand)
- Anything where you'd want hands on a body part to confirm what's going on
How a telehealth session actually runs
1. Booking and tech setup
Book online through HaltH. You'll get a video link emailed to you. Works on phone, tablet or laptop, no app download required. Stand a couple of metres back from the camera so we can see your full body, ideally somewhere you can move around safely.
2. The session (30-45 minutes)
We start with the story. Same as an in-clinic appointment. Then a guided movement assessment: we'll have you do specific movements while we watch, looking for range, control, compensations and pain triggers. Then we walk through the diagnosis, the plan, and the first set of exercises.
3. Exercise videos to your phone
You leave the session with a custom exercise program sent to your phone, with video demos of each movement. No "do three sets of theraband rows" with no idea what that looks like. You'll see exactly how each exercise should be performed.
4. Follow-ups when you need them
Most patients book a follow-up at 2-4 weeks to check progression and update the program. We don't push regular appointments you don't need. The whole point is for you to get better and not need us anymore.
Most rehab is what you do between appointments, not what happens in them. Telehealth makes that obvious, and makes it easier to do.
What telehealth costs and how to claim it
Telehealth sessions are priced the same as in-clinic consults. Most private health funds now cover telehealth physio under their extras policy. Call your fund to confirm. We provide a paid invoice with the required item codes so you can claim through your fund's app afterwards (HICAPS isn't currently supported for online sessions). For workers' comp, CTP, NDIS and DVA, telehealth is generally claimable on the same terms as in-person. We'll handle the paperwork.
Who's it for?
Patients we typically see via telehealth:
- People anywhere in Australia. Regional NSW, regional Victoria, Queensland, WA, SA, NT, Tasmania. Anywhere with internet
- Australians living overseas. Expats in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, the US. Time zones permitting, we'll work around your schedule
- International patients. We've treated a shoulder rehab patient in Italy and field enquiries regularly from patients overseas looking for English-speaking physio they can trust
- Sydney patients outside the South-West corridor who want our care without the drive
- Existing patients who've moved or travel for work
- Time-poor professionals. Appointments at lunch or after hours
- Parents at home with young kids who can't easily get to clinic appointments
- Anyone in the prevention/maintenance phase who just needs program updates
Booking your telehealth session
Book online any time. We respond within a business day to confirm the details and send your video link. If you've already been a patient at Rehab n Run in Liverpool and want to switch to telehealth for follow-ups, just book through the regular HaltH page. Your file's already with us.
