Geriatric physiotherapy in Mount Waverley.

Getting older changes how the body responds to load, injury, and inactivity. Recovery is slower. Balance erodes faster than people realise. A small fall can have outsized consequences. The right physio doesn’t pretend otherwise — and doesn’t treat an 80-year-old like a 30-year-old.

What I work on

• Falls prevention — balance training, lower-limb strength, gait, and confidence in moving around the home and community
• Mobility and walking — making everyday movement easier, less effortful, and less painful
• Strength maintenance — slowing the loss of muscle mass that comes with age (sarcopenia), with safe, progressive loading
• Joint pain — knees, hips, back, shoulders — not as “just old age,” but as something that often responds to hands-on work and targeted strengthening
• Post-hospital and post-surgical rehab — hip and knee replacements, fracture recovery, hospital deconditioning
• Confidence after a fall or scare — getting back to walking out of the house without the fear running the show

How I approach it

• Hands-on first. Older patients still benefit from manual therapy. Often more so, because tight, restricted tissue is part of why movement gets harder.
• Realistic goals. The aim is what matters in your week — getting up and down stairs, walking to the shops, picking up grandkids, sleeping better. Not abstract metrics.
• Slow enough to be safe, fast enough to make progress. Loading and balance work needs to be challenging to actually change anything — but pitched right for what the body can take that day.
• Working with the family and other clinicians.If there’s a GP, specialist, or other team involved, I’ll coordinate where it’s useful.

Closely related: neurological rehab

For older adults living with stroke, Parkinson’s, or other neurological conditions, geriatric and neuro rehab overlap heavily. Read more about neurological rehabilitation →

What a session looks like

• Conversation about what’s changed — what you can’t do now that you’d like to, what feels unsafe, what hurts
• Assessment of strength, balance, gait, and key joint movements
• Hands-on work where it’s indicated — joints, soft tissue, tight areas
• Targeted practice — balance work, sit-to-stand, walking, transfers, whatever’s needed
• A short, doable plan for between sessions — no wall of exercises