Understanding what a pain physiotherapist does

Physiotherapists focus on how the body moves and functions, addressing issues like stiffness, tightness, weakness, and helping you regain natural, relaxed movement patterns.

A key part of physiotherapy for chronic pain is pain education. Understanding how pain works—especially when it persists beyond normal healing time—can be a powerful first step in reducing fear, building confidence, and regaining control. Your physiotherapist can help you make sense of your pain, explain how the nervous system responds to injury and stress, and guide you in strategies to calm and retrain those responses.

For many people living with long-term pain, the original injury may have led to reduced activity and physical deconditioning. You might need to start from a lower level of fitness or movement tolerance. Early on, exercises are gentle—not aimed at building fitness straight away—but designed to help your body relearn that movement can be safe and achievable without triggering pain, tension, or fear of further injury.

As your confidence and capacity grow, these exercises gradually build into a more active fitness program. Chronic pain physiotherapists don’t rely heavily on hands-on treatments. However, manual therapy can still play a role when used to support you through flare-ups or tough patches, especially as you learn how to better pace your activity levels.