The recent launch of the updated Stroke Clinical Care Standard, coupled with the Stroke Foundation’s Living Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management, provides Australian physiotherapists with a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for best practice care. Here, the two sets of recommendations are examined to understand how they work together and what physiotherapists should know about them.

Researchers are looking at the factors infl uencing the community’s use of physiotherapy services for management of temporomandibular disorders.

Jess Fenwick, Katia Gould, Blake Hort and Jarryd Croxford of the APA Occupational Health national group present five discussion points on the vital role physiotherapists play in return to work for injured workers.

Fifty years ago this month, Australian physiotherapists voted to repeal a 70-year-old ethical principle that prevented them from treating patients without a medical or dental referral. That landmark decision transformed physiotherapy in this country and paved the way for Australia to become a global leader in first contact physiotherapy. We look back at the people, politics and courage behind one of the most significant turning points in the profession’s history.

AWARD Bridget Shaw AM’s King’s Birthday honour reflects a career spent helping physiotherapy take on a greater role in patient care and the health system. Marina Williams reports.

The new Australian Standards for Health Practitioner Pain Management Education were launched at the 46th Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting by Dr Noam Winter and Professor Helen Slater, members of the team that developed the standards.

A clinical reasoning framework for chronic pain was the focus of a pre-conference workshop at the Australian Pain Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

For more than two decades, Professor Michele Sterling has been at the forefront of pain research, reshaping how physiotherapists understand musculoskeletal injury, chronic pain and recovery after whiplash injury. Michele was recently named in The Australian’s top 250 researchers of 2026 and is the leading researcher in the area of pain and pain management. 

The Physiotherapy Board of Australia breaks down how it is working to support a sustainable physiotherapy workforce and improve community access to care.

Belinda Stephens argues that community voice must drive physiotherapy’s next step in chronic disease care.