What does a geriatric physiotherapist do?

What is a Geriatric Physiotherapist?

Geriatric physiotherapists help older adults stay active, mobile, and independent. They work with seniors to manage common age-related challenges like reduced strength, balance problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, chronic pain, or recovery after an injury or surgery. Their role is to design gentle, personalized exercise and rehabilitation programs that improve movement, reduce pain, prevent falls, and make everyday activities easier.

What does a Geriatric Physiotherapist do?

Duties and Responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities of a geriatric physiotherapist focus on supporting the health, mobility, and independence of older adults. Key responsibilities include:

• Assessing Patients: Conduct thorough evaluations of strength, balance, flexibility, and posture. Review medical history and consider ongoing conditions to identify specific needs and challenges.
• Creating Treatment Plans: Design personalized exercise and therapy programs tailored to each patient’s goals, such as reducing pain, improving balance, or regaining strength after surgery. Adjust plans as progress is made.
• Improving Mobility: Help patients walk more easily and move with greater confidence. Use targeted exercises, gait training, and, if needed, introduce mobility aids like walkers or canes.
• Preventing Falls: Teach balance and coordination exercises to lower the risk of falls. Recommend safety strategies and suggest home adjustments to create a safer living environment.
• Managing Pain: Use exercise, stretching, manual therapy, and movement techniques to ease chronic pain from arthritis, osteoporosis, or back problems. Focus on improving comfort and quality of life.
• Supporting Recovery: Guide patients through rehabilitation after joint replacements, fractures, strokes, or hospital stays. Provide safe and steady progress toward independence.
• Promoting Independence: Encourage and train patients to manage daily tasks such as dressing, bathing, and climbing stairs. Build confidence so they can remain self-sufficient for longer.
• Educating Patients and Families: Teach patients how to safely exercise and move in everyday life. Provide families with tools and advice to support their loved ones at home.

The types of conditions geriatric physiotherapists commonly treat:

• Arthritis: Help manage stiffness, pain, and limited joint movement caused by osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
• Osteoporosis: Support bone health and teach safe movement techniques to reduce the risk of fractures.
• Post-Surgery Recovery: Provide rehabilitation after hip or knee replacements, spinal surgery, or other orthopedic procedures.
• Balance and Fall-Related Issues: Address dizziness, poor balance, and muscle weakness that increase the risk of falling.
• Chronic Pain Conditions: Manage long-term pain from back problems, joint degeneration, or muscular conditions.
• Neurological Conditions: Assist with mobility and strength for older adults affected by strokes, Parkinson’s disease, or neuropathy.
• Respiratory and Cardiac Conditions: Improve stamina and breathing through safe exercises for people with COPD, heart disease, or after cardiac surgery.
• Injuries and Fractures: Help regain strength, flexibility, and mobility after falls, broken bones, or sprains.
• General Age-Related Weakness: Address muscle loss, reduced endurance, and decreased mobility to maintain independence in daily life.

Different Types of Geriatric Physiotherapists
Geriatric physiotherapy is a broad specialty, and many physiotherapists working with older adults choose to focus on particular areas of need. These areas often overlap, and are therefore thought of more as sub-specialties within the field, rather than formal types:

• Orthopedic Geriatric Physiotherapists focus on age-related bone, joint, and muscle conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, fractures, and post-surgical rehabilitation (hip/knee replacements).
• Neurological Geriatric Physiotherapists specialize in conditions like stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia-related mobility issues, or balance and coordination problems.
• Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Geriatric Physiotherapists work with older adults who have heart disease, COPD, or other respiratory conditions to improve endurance and breathing function.
• Palliative or Long-Term Care Physiotherapists support seniors with advanced illness or frailty, focusing on comfort, pain management, and quality of life.

What is the workplace of a Geriatric Physiotherapist like?

Geriatric physiotherapists work in a wide range of healthcare and community settings where older adults need support with mobility, rehabilitation, and quality of life. These are among their most common employers:

Hospitals – for inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation after surgeries, fractures, strokes, or other acute conditions
Rehabilitation Centers – providing intensive therapy for seniors recovering from injuries, joint replacements, or neurological conditions
Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care Facilities – helping residents maintain mobility, prevent decline, and manage chronic conditions
Community Health Centers and Outpatient Clinics – offering physiotherapy services for seniors living independently
Home Healthcare Services – providing in-home physiotherapy for those unable to travel or who prefer treatment at home
Private Practices – where seniors seek specialized treatment for pain, mobility, or exercise programs
Hospices and Palliative Care Programs – supporting comfort, mobility, and dignity in advanced illness
Wellness and Senior Fitness Programs – working in gyms, senior centers, or community organizations to deliver fall-prevention, balance, and exercise programs tailored to older adults
Academic or Research Institutions – developing new strategies to improve elder care

The workplace of a geriatric physiotherapist can look very different depending on where they work, but the goal is always the same — helping older adults stay active, safe, and independent.

In hospitals and rehab centers, they often work in busy spaces with therapy gyms, exercise equipment, and parallel bars to help patients recover from surgery, illness, or injury. In nursing homes and long-term care facilities, the setting is usually quieter and more home-like, with one-on-one or small group sessions focused on keeping residents mobile, preventing falls, and improving comfort.

In clinics or private practices, physiotherapists usually see outpatients in treatment rooms or small gyms, where they design personalized exercise and pain management plans. Some also work directly in patients’ homes, adapting exercises to everyday spaces like the living room or kitchen so therapy is practical and fits daily life. Others are part of wellness centers or senior fitness programs, where the atmosphere is more like a gym or community hall, and the focus is on group classes, staying active, and preventing problems before they start.