When Linda Bennetts APAM says she became a physiotherapist ‘by complete mistake almost’, she is not being modest—she is being truthful. 

Linda arrived at university in her native New Zealand in the early 1970s fully expecting to become a doctor. 

‘I had no idea what a physio did or was and I went to uni to study medicine,’ she says.

On her very first day at university, though, Linda was told she would never be accepted into medical school as she did not meet the social and cultural criteria of the time. 

‘That was way back in the ’70s. The criteria was things like how many medical people did you have in your family? Did you have Maori or Pacific Island blood?’ she recalls.

Linda says it was a stark introduction to how exclusive the medical profession was then, particularly for young women without powerful family or cultural connections. 

But Linda didn’t walk away. Instead, she adapted. 

Living in a university hall alongside medical, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students, she noticed the physiotherapy textbooks and realised how closely the subjects mirrored what she loved about medicine. 

‘If I’m not going to get into medicine, this looks a bit like medicine and I might give it a crack. 

'I really had no concept of what physio was at that point,’ she says.

That split-second decision would define the next 50 years of her life.

Physiotherapy training in the ’70s was intense, condensed and deeply practical. 

Linda recalls being at university from 8 am to 6 pm in her first year of studying physiotherapy, with patient-based learning built in from the very beginning. 

By the time she graduated from the three-year diploma, then considered degree-level, Linda had treated hundreds of patients across multiple settings. 

‘By graduation we had a lot of experience under our belts; it was quite different.

'I look at what’s happening now and I think they could be doing a lot more in a shorter space of time,’ she says.

While her university cohort was mostly women, the pathways available after graduation were not equal. Linda went into hospital work first but sport soon drew her in. 

Working in the rugby union-mad town of Invercargill, Linda and a colleague set up a weekend sports injury clinic inside the hospital’s accident and emergency. 

Linda Bennetts.

It was innovative for the time and it put Linda in direct contact with the roughest end of male sport at a time when women were rarely welcomed into that space.

That changed in 1977 when the touring British Lions rugby union team (now the British and Irish Lions) arrived. 

There were no travelling doctors or physiotherapists then, so Linda and her colleague treated many of the players in the hospital.

A few weeks later the team doctor publicly praised them. ‘He said, “Girls, I got a letter from the Lions’ management and they were absolutely thrilled with what you did for them [players] when they were here.” 

Then came the challenge. “Why aren’t you in private practice? You could be in private practice.”’

Private practice was a bold move for any young clinician in the 1970s. For a woman treating elite male rugby players, it was revolutionary—and not always welcomed. 

Linda encountered innuendo and gossip almost immediately. 

‘There was an innuendo about the number of rugby players that I treated and was I offering more than treatment and all that sort of thing. 

'I very staunchly stuck up for myself a few times. It was difficult but I pushed through,’ she says.

Instead of retreating, Linda let her work speak for her. 

She built a reputation strong enough to be invited to work with national teams, eventually becoming the first physiotherapist to travel with a New Zealand team to the Commonwealth Games in 1982.

At the time Linda barely paused to reflect on the milestone. ‘Looking back, it means a lot more than it did then. That was a fairly big milestone,’ she says.

The following year Linda became a member of the APA and she and her husband Roger moved to Brisbane, partly for lifestyle reasons and partly because of her rheumatoid arthritis. 

‘Living in a cold climate was not very kind to me. This temperate climate here in Brisbane suits me much, much better.

'I don’t think I’d still be working if I was in New Zealand,’ she adds.

Linda’s reputation followed her to Australia. Not long after arriving here, Linda was called up at the last minute to travel with the New Zealand track and field team to the first World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland. 

It was during that trip that Linda discovered she was 10 weeks pregnant. 

She recalls the doctor in London telling her not to lift anything heavy, despite her travelling with seven pieces of luggage full of equipment. 

‘It meant missing the 1984 Olympics, a reminder of how often women in sport have had to choose between career-defining opportunities and motherhood,’ she says.

On tour, Linda was often the sole medical provider, making rapid decisions that could mean the difference between recovery and catastrophe. 

‘You do have to make decisions quite frequently and quite quickly,’ she says. 

In one case, she overruled an initial assessment and ordered a player removed from the field, later discovering a cervical fracture. In another, she identified a ruptured spleen that had been mistaken for a rib injury. 

These moments reinforced for her how vital physiotherapists can be in acute sport.

Then came the accident that would redefine her relationship with her whole body. 

While treating an injured player on the rugby field, Linda was struck during a tackle and fractured her femur. The injury led to years of medical complications and long periods in a wheelchair. 

Rather than ending her career, Linda’s injury deepened her empathy, particularly for people with chronic pain. 

‘Having been in a pretty difficult space myself, I know how much you can push yourself and how much you need to rest,’ she says.

By the time Linda reached her 60s and 70s, she had built and sold successful practices, had mentored generations of clinicians and remained embedded in Brisbane’s sporting community, especially Wests Bulldogs Rugby Club, where she is now a lifetime member alongside her daughter, the club’s general manager.

When Linda’s practice was up for sale around the end of 2023, Sean Campbell, the managing director of Sports and Spinal, went to meet her. What he found left a lasting impression. 

‘I remember she was ambulating on a stool because she had just had maybe her 10th or 15th operation on her leg. 

'But she had a massive smile on her face—just beautiful energy—still really passionate about her job,’ Sean says. 

When he suggested that she close her clinic and move to one of his clinics, he expected hesitation. Instead, Linda jumped at the chance.

Linda Bennetts celebrates 50 years as a physiotherapist.

Linda joined the Sports and Spinal team in February of 2024. 

In a clinic dominated by 20- and 30-year-olds, Linda—who is now in her 70s—slotted straight in. 

‘She’s integrated very closely with the team there and provides training, support and mentoring,’ Sean says. 

‘She has a particular interest in chronic pain so her niche area of expertise fitted in well.’

In December, Linda celebrated 50 years as a physiotherapist. 

She now works five days a week at the Woolloongabba clinic and covers rugby and carnivals on the other days. 

‘There was a five-week period where she worked seven days a week,’ Sean says. 

What moves Sean most is not just Linda’s stamina but also her spirit. 

‘She is an absolute superstar. 

'For new people in the profession to see someone in their 70s working full-time, facing lots of adversity but getting through that with a smile and still being passionate about what she does, I just think it’s an awesome example,’ he says.

Setting that example matters. Linda worries about burnout and the number of young physiotherapists leaving the profession.

‘Physio is such a varied profession. You can try other areas and find something that piques your interest,’ she says. 

Her own career has spanned hospital wards, private clinics, international stadiums and community rugby fields, all underpinned by the belief that patients should never be forced to fit a recipe. 

‘The patient will always tell you what’s wrong with them but not necessarily in a language that you’ll understand,’ she says. 

‘Rather than trying to make the patient fit the recipe, you need to find the right recipe for the patient.’

After half a century in practice, Linda still looks forward to work. 

‘You learn something new every day,’ she says.

‘It’s a privilege for people to let you into their lives and to have some small part in making their daily activities easier.’

A woman who once had the door to medicine closed in her face, Linda has spent the past 50 years opening doors for others—on the sideline, in the clinic and across the profession. 

And in the context of International Women’s Day on 8 March this year, her story is one not just of breaking into a male-dominated world but of staying there, thriving and reshaping it for generations to come.

>> Originally published in InMotion magazine under the title 'The physio who never stopped'.