When to see a Physio vs a Bio vs a Chiro

The roles of physiotherapists, biokineticists and chiropractors are often not clearly understood and despite a lot of overlap in what they can assist with, there is generally a best option to choose depending on your current needs. As a result of this unclear distinction, a rigid belief in ‘what has previously worked’ and a few practitioners unfortunately crossing the bounds of their scopes of practice, the result is a treatment plan that is not always conducive to YOUR BEST outcome! Each health professional plays a very important role and I hope to give my best opinion on these roles so you can make a more informed decision on who to see.

A physiotherapist is provides assistance in the first stages of an injury or treatment where they can assist in diagnosis and relief of pain, swelling and immobility. Along with education on how to use assistive devices, and your rehab process, they will provide exercises to improve range of motion, muscle function and proprioception. Physiotherapists see a large variety of patients from those following an op, to burn victims and general joint and soft tissue injuries such as a ligament tear in your knee. When initial pain, swelling and basic function has been addressed, you will then be referred to a biokineticist where your rehabilitation will be progressed.

A biokineticist is seen either as your next step in rehabilitation or when you did not have severe pain, dysfunction, or immobility to begin with. Biokineticists rehabilitate sports injuries, lifestyle and chronic diseases, as well as promote general health and physical ability with the use of scientifically based exercise programs. They can also provide sport specific conditioning for injury prevention and sport performance. This is aimed to return you to your pre-injury state and beyond to ensure future occurrence is prevented. A bio will address strength, flexibility, balance, explosive power, endurance and more depending on your needs and goals.

A chiropractor is the physician some fear while others favor due to their manual joint manipulations that ‘crack you like a glowstick.’ They should not be feared though as they are well qualified to do so and perform these adjustments to in a highly controlled way that promotes joint health. They focus on alignment and mobility and do so with various manipulation techniques that can relieve muscle tensions and address neuro-muscular conditions. They also make use of other therapeutic methods such as dry needling and trigger point therapy. These adjustments and treatments are often complimented by the prescription of ‘maintenance’ exercise programs to increase the longevity of relief achieved.

Many individuals skip certain stages of rehabilitation and once we feel good, we often believe we are good to go. This may be the case and to each their own, however, something often made you susceptible to this injury, ache or pain in the first place and without addressing this properly, you leave yourself open to its reoccurrence which can be frustrating, demotivating or worse – debilitating. This is not just relevant to your current fast-paced self – but to future you who will bear the consequences!

Pain free movement is often taken for granted until this blessing is taken away from you. It is always possible to do something about it and be mobile again even if this is within new limits. Each of these practitioners aim to get you back to your best, functional self and I do hope I have helped you to make a better selection of who to see when next you need a helping hand along your journey!