When the Spinal Virtual Clinic run out of Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia first opened, it managed a handful of patients annually. Fast-forward a decade and the clinic now oversees more than 1000 patients each year, with physiotherapy at the forefront.

From the wrestling mat to the treatment room, Kris Grzywniak’s path into physiotherapy has been anything but conventional. A former Polish national team wrestler and coach, now working in private practice, Kris brings a rare blend of lived athletic insight, coaching skills and clinical reasoning to every patient.

Functional decline in older adults in hospital is common, consequential and largely preventable. Dr Julie Adsett outlines how targeted, system-wide approaches, supported by mobility quality indicators, can help hospitals measure, understand and improve patient activity.

For physiotherapists working in Australia’s public health system, the career pathway can often feel clearly defined: develop clinical expertise, specialise or move into advanced practice or management and progress within the boundaries of the profession. But for some, that pathway broadens into something less visible – and more influential.

Physiotherapy careers often run in families but rarely across three generations working in different eras of the profession. For Jill Morrison, her daughter Shan Morrison and grandson Xander Clausen, physiotherapy is not just a career path – it is a shared language that has evolved across six decades of healthcare.

APA Policy and Government Relations Senior Policy Advisor Mirjana Jovetic explains why it’s so important to champion access to falls prevention programs.

Virtual physiotherapy care may be just as powerful as a hospital bed for non-serious low back pain. At the APASC25 scientific conference in Adelaide, Dr Chathurani Sigera described how the Back@Home program in Sydney is helping patients recover in their own homes.

ADVANCED PRACTICE (INCLUDING EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT) From early inspirations to leadership in advanced practice physiotherapy, Pippa Flanagan’s career has been defined by seizing opportunities and embracing challenges.

As hospitals continue to rebuild and reshape their workforces after the disruption of the pandemic years, supporting new physiotherapy graduates is more important than ever. At the Royal Melbourne Hospital, physiotherapy clinical educator Thao Nguyen helped drive an innovative program designed to strengthen confidence, capability and connection in the earliest weeks of practice.

Physiotherapists at Royal Darwin Hospital are redefining renal care in the Northern Territory, improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients living with kidney disease.