Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs) have become a vital hub for delivering quality healthcare, taking pressure off emergency departments (EDs) across Australia. 

To date, little research had been carried out on the role that primary contact physiotherapists (PCPs) play in UCCs. 

MOTOR RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION AFTER STROKE 

Researchers from Australia, the USA and the Netherlands summarised five years of research into motor recovery and rehabilitation after stroke. Two of the authors, Dr Emily Dalton and Associate Professor Natalie Fini, agreed to answer some questions. 

We are a profession that takes evidence seriously and rightly so. The body of research underpinning physiotherapy practice is robust, growing and genuinely impressive. 

From pain neuroscience to exercise prescription, manual therapy protocols to chronic disease self-management, we have developed a sophisticated clinical toolkit, one grounded in decades of rigorous investigation, peer review and outcome measurement. 

Physiotherapist Matthew Ash APAM has spent much of his career working with people whose pain persisted long after an injury should have healed. 

Across the globe, there is an increasing prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which has motor and non-motor symptoms such as bradykinesia, cognitive impairment and anxiety, seriously affecting quality of life. 

The July issue of Journal of Physiotherapy highlights how contemporary physiotherapy increasingly depends not only on effective interventions, but also on understanding what patients value, how clinicians deliver care and how health systems support implementation. 

1. Differential diagnosis of FS must be deliberate and active 

External rotation loss is the clue; everything else is noise. 

Frozen shoulder (FS) is a label we think we are confident about until the stiff shoulder in front of you does not behave like one. 

The 2026 APA Victorian Branch Winter Breakfast will turn its attention to a phase of care before the operating theatre – but one that may ultimately shape outcomes. 

Dr Andrea Hams MACP is an APA Titled Research Physiotherapist, a lecturer at Griffith University and a former elite track and field athlete. 

She has a passionate interest in chronic musculoskeletal conditions and treatments with an ‘exercise-based flavour’.