“Physiotherapy helps restore movement and function when someone is affected by injury, illness or disability.” – Chartered Society of Physiotherapy website
What do physiotherapists do?
Physiotherapists use their knowledge and skills to help patients:
- recover from injury
- get moving after surgery
- manage pregnancy related back and pelvic pain
- cope with long term conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma and arthritis
- manage neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, Stroke or Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- manage pain
- recover after suffering a heart attack
- maintain as healthy and independent a life as possible by involving and empowering you as patients
- return home from hospital safely
We do this using a variety of techniques including giving advice, manual therapies, movement and exercise therapy, education, and rehabilitation. Our priority is the quality of your health, wellbeing and lifestyle. We work with people of all ages and in a variety of settings.
In Ayrshire & Arran, physiotherapists work in the following specialties across various hospital and community locations:
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Care of the Elderly
- Day Hospital
- Domiciliary Physiotherapy
- Intensive Care
- Intermediate Care Team
- Learning Disabilities
- Lymphoedema
- Mental Health
- Neuro Outpatients
- Musculoskeletal
- Orthopaedics
- Outpatients
- Paediatrics
- Pelvic Health and Obstetrics
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation
- Stroke Rehabilitation
- Surgical
- Unscheduled care (Respiratory, Cardiology, Renal, Gastro, Haematology and Medical High Care)
- Vascular
Thinking about becoming a physiotherapist?
Physiotherapy is a scientific, degree course of 4 years duration (undergraduate) or a pre-registration postgraduate course of 2 years.
The following Scottish universities offer a degree course to study Physiotherapy.
- Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow
- Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
- Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
- Edinburgh Napier University (postgraduate course)
Visit our AHP Careers section to find out more about becoming a Physiotherapist.
Returning walking aids
You can return walking aids to the Physiotherapy Departments at our local hospitals including Ayr, Crosshouse and Ayrshire Central Hospital.