Physiotherapy FAQs | Altona Physio Altona North

Got questions? We’ve got answers. Here are the most common things patients want to know before seeing a physio.

Altona Physio FAQs - Your Questions Answered

Find clear answers about our services, appointments, and treatments. Proudly serving Altona North and nearby suburbs with trusted physiotherapy care.

At Altona Physio, we offer a wide range of specialized physiotherapy services designed to address various conditions and improve overall health. Our services include:

  • Sports Physiotherapy

  • Manipulative Therapy

  • Orthopaedic Rehabilitation

  • Ergonomics

  • Treatment for Back and Neck Pain

  • Joint and Muscular Injuries

  • Sporting Injuries and Pain

  • Ligament and Tendon Injuries

  • Chronic Pain and Weakness Management

  • Running Injuries and Problems

  • Work-Related Injuries

  • Post-Surgical Rehabilitation

  • Exercise Program Review and Design

  • Motor Vehicle Accident Recovery

  • Physiapp Home Exercises

Whether you're recovering from an injury, managing chronic pain, or enhancing your performance, our experienced physiotherapists provide personalized treatment plans tailored to your needs. Contact us today to discuss your treatment options and how we can help you achieve your health goals.

At Altona Physio, we treat a wide range of injuries, aches, and pains to help you recover and improve your quality of life. Our experienced physiotherapists offer personalized treatment for conditions including:

  • Headaches

  • Jaw (TMJ) Pain

  • Shoulder Pain

  • Elbow & Arm Pain

  • Wrist Pain

  • Hand & Finger Injuries

  • Thoracic & Chest Pain

  • Low Back Pain

  • Buttock Pain

  • Hip Pain

  • Groin Pain

  • Thigh Pain

  • Knee Injuries & Pain

  • Leg & Calf Pain

  • Ankle Injuries & Pain

  • Foot & Heel Pain

Whether you're dealing with chronic pain, recent injuries, or discomfort affecting your daily activities, Altona Physio offers effective treatments to help you feel better and regain mobility. Book your consultation today to start your recovery journey!

At Altona Physio, we offer a comprehensive range of treatments designed to promote recovery, relieve pain, and enhance your overall well-being. Our approach combines evidence-based therapies with other proven techniques that may not yet have robust scientific backing but are valued for their effectiveness in certain cases.

Electrotherapy Treatments:

  • Shockwave Therapy

  • Spinal Traction

  • Ultrasound Therapy

  • TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation)

  • Interferential Therapy

  • Muscle Stimulator

  • Muscle Bio-Feedback

  • Laser Therapy

  • Short Wave Diathermy

  • Microtizer

Manual Therapy:

  • Hand Therapy

  • Joint Mobilisation & Manipulation

  • Joint Traction

  • Soft Tissue Therapy

  • Myofascial Release

  • Muscle Energy Techniques

Functional & Exercise-Based Treatments:

  • Taping & Bracing

  • Muscle Balance & Core Exercises

  • Sports & Running Programs

  • Pilates Exercises

Whether you need help managing pain, recovering from injury, or enhancing physical performance, Altona Physio offers tailored treatment plans to meet your unique needs. Contact us or book online to start your journey to better health!

Pain makes it hard to move well. When something is sore, irritated, or flared up, your body naturally protects itself. That is why exercise often feels difficult or unhelpful at the start.

We use pain relief treatments first to calm things down. This may include hands-on therapy, shockwave, dry needling, traction, or other passive treatments. Think of these like pain medication. They help settle symptoms so you can move more comfortably.

Once pain is under control, we shift focus to active rehab. This is where exercises, movement retraining, and strength work create long-term change and reduce the chance of the problem returning.

Both stages matter. Relief comes first. Long-term change comes next.

At Altona Physio, we prioritize evidence-based physiotherapy treatments, including personalized exercise programs and patient education, as the cornerstone of care. Additionally, we integrate techniques like manual therapy to address individual patient needs and goals. Our approach combines the latest physiotherapy research with tailored treatments to help you reduce pain, improve mobility, and achieve long-lasting results.

Shockwave therapy, also known as Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT), is a non-invasive treatment that uses acoustic sound waves to stimulate the body’s natural healing response in tissues where recovery has stalled.

It’s commonly used when pain becomes chronic or keeps returning, usually after 3 months or more, and when rest, stretching, or basic treatment hasn’t been enough. Shockwave doesn’t work like pain medication or injections. Instead of masking symptoms, it helps restart the healing process in overloaded or degenerated tissue.

Shockwave therapy works by:

  • Creating controlled micro-trauma that triggers repair

  • Increasing blood flow to the injured area

  • Breaking down scar tissue or calcification

  • Stimulating new collagen and tissue remodelling

Some soreness after treatment is normal and often a good sign that healing has been reactivated.

Conditions commonly treated with Shockwave Therapy

Tendon and overuse injuries

  • Achilles tendinopathy

  • Patellar tendinopathy (jumper’s knee)

  • Rotator cuff tendinopathy

  • Tennis elbow / golfer’s elbow

Foot and heel pain

  • Plantar fasciitis

  • Heel spurs

Hip and pelvic pain

  • Gluteal tendinopathy

  • Proximal hamstring tendinopathy

Shin and knee pain

  • Shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome)

  • Osgood–Schlatter disease

Muscle and soft tissue conditions

  • Myofascial trigger points

  • Chronic muscle tightness or pain

How shockwave therapy fits into your treatment

For best results, shockwave therapy is used as part of a broader rehab plan that may include:

  • Mobility and stretching work

  • Progressive strengthening and loading

  • Biomechanical correction (foot posture, joint control, running or lifting technique)

  • General conditioning and fitness when relevant

Most people need 3 to 6 weekly sessions, with improvement often continuing after treatment finishes as tissue healing progresses.

What to expect

  • Sessions last 5 to 15 minutes

  • Sensation is often described as deep tapping or pressure

  • Avoid anti-inflammatory medication after treatment to allow the healing response to occur

Real example: Achilles tendinopathy

A 42-year-old recreational runner with 6 months of Achilles pain combined shockwave therapy with progressive strengthening and manual treatment. After six weeks, pain improved by 80% and he returned to running. By 12 weeks, he completed a 10K race pain-free.

At Altona Physiotherapy & Sports Injuries Centre, shockwave therapy is always combined with exercise rehabilitation and hands-on treatment to support long-term recovery, not just short-term relief.

If your injury has stopped improving or keeps coming back, shockwave therapy may help restart the healing process.

If you’re searching for sports massage in Altona North, remedial massage near me, or deep tissue massage for tight muscles, here’s what you should know.

We are not a massage clinic.

At Altona Physio, we are physiotherapists focused on diagnosis, treatment planning, and long-term outcomes. While hands-on therapy is part of what we do, we do not provide standalone sports or remedial massage based purely on a requested body part.

Muscle tightness, stiffness, or soreness is often a symptom, not the root cause.

Providing treatment without assessment, simply because an area “feels tight,” may offer short-term relief. It does not address why the issue developed or why it keeps returning.

As a physiotherapy clinic in Altona North, every initial consultation includes:

• Comprehensive physiotherapy assessment

• Movement and strength testing

• Identification of contributing factors

• Clear explanation of findings

• Individualised treatment plan

• Hands-on therapy when clinically indicated

• Exercise prescription and load management guidance

If you are looking for relaxation massage, general muscle work, or a routine sports massage without assessment, a qualified massage therapist may be more appropriate.

If you want:

• Ongoing calf tightness that keeps returning addressed properly

• Neck tension linked to posture or workload assessed

• Recurrent hamstring or lower back pain investigated

• Sports performance limitations analysed and corrected

Then physiotherapy is the right starting point.

We focus on solving the underlying problem, not just temporarily reducing symptoms.

Yes. Altona Physio offers dry needling as part of our physiotherapy treatment options. We use it for patients dealing with muscle tightness, trigger points, and persistent pain, but only after proper clinical screening to make sure it’s safe and appropriate.

Dry needling can be effective for short-term pain relief and easing muscular tension. Like any needle-based technique, it comes with some risks, including bleeding, infection, and, in rare cases, more serious complications. That’s why our physiotherapists follow strict hygiene standards, use proven clinical techniques, and take the time to assess whether dry needling is the right choice for you.

If it isn’t suitable, we’ll explain why and offer alternatives that can achieve similar results.

Alongside dry needling, we also use other evidence-based therapies to help settle pain and improve mobility, including:

Laser therapy – helps reduce inflammation, calm irritated tissues, and support healing.

Interferential therapy (IFT) – gentle electrical currents to reduce pain and muscle spasm.

These approaches can make you feel better quickly and safely.

For long-term recovery, we combine these treatments with a tailored exercise program to rebuild strength, improve movement, and support lasting results.

Every treatment plan at Altona Physio is personalised. Whether you’re looking for dry needling in Melbourne’s west, or you simply want the safest and most effective path to recovery, we’ll help you move with confidence again.

At Altona Physio, we only offer one-on-one physiotherapy treatments.

Each session is conducted individually by your physiotherapist, with no group sessions and no shared treatment spaces. You’ll receive dedicated, uninterrupted care focused entirely on your specific condition and goals.

We believe the best results come from personalised attention. That’s why:

  • Every patient is treated in a private room, not in an open gym or shared space

  • You’ll work one-on-one with a qualified physiotherapist, not as part of a class

  • There are no group rehab sessions or multitasking between patients

  • Your treatment is tailored and adjusted in real-time based on your progress

This setup ensures comfort, discretion, and a professional environment where you can feel at ease while receiving focused physiotherapy care.

At Altona Physio, we're proud to be recognised by several major health insurance networks as a preferred provider. This means we’ve met strict criteria around quality of care, clinical standards, and facilities, so you can feel confident knowing you’re in good hands.

As a preferred provider, we’re able to offer eligible patients access to set rates, higher rebates and smaller out-of-pocket costs for many of our services.

We’re currently partnered with:

Eligible members from Medibank, Bupa, NIB, Qantas, AAMI, Suncorp, APIA, IMAN, Australian Health Plans, United Healthcare Global, GU Health, and ING Health can access $10 - $40 discounted rates and higher rebates for our physiotherapy treatments.

Contact us today to learn more about your health insurance benefits and how we can assist you with accessing affordable physiotherapy care.

Some physiotherapy clinics offer discounted injury assessments as a way to encourage first-time bookings or fill appointment gaps. These discounted physiotherapy consultations are often shorter or designed as an introduction, with the full assessment completed across later visits.

At our clinic, every injury assessment is a full physiotherapy consultation from the first appointment. We don’t rush assessments or reduce time to meet a price point. This means you leave your first visit with a clear diagnosis, a proper treatment plan, and confidence about what to do next, without needing multiple appointments just to understand your injury.

Some clinics bulk bill Medicare Care Plan physiotherapy by shortening sessions to match the rebate. We choose not to do that. Your Medicare physiotherapy appointment at our clinic is a full consultation, with proper assessment, treatment, and progression of your care plan. The rebate is applied, but your care isn’t reduced to fit a time limit. If you’re experiencing financial hardship, please talk to us. We’ll always do our best to help you find a way to continue your care safely and realistically.

Altona Physio accepts a variety of insurance and compensation schemes to support our patients in receiving the care they need. We are pleased to work with the following:

  • WorkCover (WorkSafe Victoria)

  • TAC (Transport Accident Commission)

  • Medicare (Chronic Disease Management Plan - GP Care Plan)

  • ComCare

  • DVA (Department of Veteran Affairs)

  • NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme)

Conditions and acceptance of liabilities may apply, and some services may require a referral from your GP.

Our goal is to make the process as seamless as possible, ensuring that you can access physiotherapy care without unnecessary stress or delays. Contact us to learn more about your options and how we can assist you with your insurance or compensation claims.

At Altona Physio, physiotherapy sessions typically last between 30 to 45 minutes. The exact duration depends on your specific condition and personalized treatment plan.

Our goal is to provide comprehensive care within each session, addressing your needs and helping you progress toward better mobility, reduced pain, and improved function. Book your session today and take the first step toward recovery!

Yes. Altona Physio provides professional home visit physiotherapy for patients in Melbourne who are medically or functionally unable to attend our clinic.

Home visits are designed for patients with mobility limitations, post-operative restrictions, neurological conditions, high falls risk, or severe pain that makes travel unsafe. If you are able to attend the clinic, in-clinic appointments are recommended, as they allow access to shockwave therapy, electrotherapy, traction, and full rehabilitation equipment.

Each home visit physiotherapy session includes:

• Comprehensive physiotherapy assessment

• Clinical diagnosis and explanation

• Structured treatment plan

• Hands-on therapy where indicated

• Exercise prescription and progression

• Falls risk and home environment assessment if required

Home visits are not a convenience or massage-only service. Treatment is delivered based on clinical findings and evidence-based practice.

Home Visit Physiotherapy Fees (Melbourne)

Home visit fees reflect total professional time, including travel, treatment, and transport costs:

• Initial Home Visit Assessment (60 minutes): $240

• Follow-Up Home Visit (30 minutes): $120

Additional fees apply:

• Travel is billed at $120 per 30-minute block

• Transport cost

• After-hours or weekend appointments incur extra charges

All home visits are pre-paid. After booking, you will receive a secure online payment link to pay before your appointment. Fees are confirmed prior to booking. Fees are correct as of 01/01/2026 and are subject to change.

Most private health funds provide rebates for home physiotherapy depending on your level of cover. Medicare rebates may apply if you have a GP Chronic Disease Management Plan, with gap payments applicable.

If you are unsure whether a home visit is appropriate for your situation, contact our clinic and we will guide you.

Yes. Altona Physio provides Telehealth physiotherapy using Cliniko Video Call for patients in Melbourne or interstate who cannot attend the clinic in person. Telehealth is ideal for assessment, exercise prescription, education, and ongoing progress review. It is not a replacement for hands-on treatment when this is clinically required.

Each Telehealth session includes:

• Comprehensive assessment via video consultation

• Clinical explanation and guidance on your condition

• Individualised exercise program and progression

• Self-management strategies for pain, posture, or mobility

• Follow-up and feedback on progress

Telehealth is suitable for patients who are:

• Recovering at home and unable to travel

• Managing chronic conditions

• Seeking guided exercise programs

• Needing professional support for mobility, posture, or pain management

Telehealth is not suitable for new injuries that require hands-on diagnosis, complex manual therapy, or equipment-based treatment.

Telehealth Fees

Telehealth fees are the same as our in-room physiotherapy rates:

• Initial Assessment (45 minutes): $140

• Follow-Up (30 minutes): $120

All Telehealth sessions are pre-paid. After booking, you will receive a secure online payment link to pay before your appointment. Fees are confirmed prior to booking. Fees are correct as of 01/01/2026 and are subject to change.

Most private health funds provide partial rebates for Telehealth physiotherapy depending on your cover. Medicare rebates may apply if eligible under a GP Chronic Disease Management Plan, with out of pocket payments applicable.

How to join a Telehealth session

Once your appointment is booked, you will receive a secure Cliniko Video Call link via email. You can join on your smartphone, tablet, or computer—no additional software is required.

If you are unsure whether Telehealth is appropriate for your condition, contact our clinic, and we will guide you on the best approach.

Yes, at Altona Physio, we provide personalized home exercise programs to support your recovery. Using Physiapp, a user-friendly platform, you’ll have access to guided video demonstrations, progress tracking, and a direct line of communication with your physiotherapist.

These exercises are tailored to your specific needs, helping you manage pain, improve mobility, and achieve your treatment goals—all from the comfort of your home.

Altona Physio is open during the following hours:

  • Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri : 8AM to 6PM

  • Thu: 8AM to 1PM

  • Public Holidays: Close

All consultations are by appointment only. Book your physiotherapy session online or contact us to secure a time that suits you. We’re here to help with your pain relief, mobility improvement, and overall recovery needs!

Yes, Altona Physio offers off-street parking directly with the clinic, making it easy for patients, including those with limited mobility or pain, to access our services. This convenient parking option helps minimize any hassle, so you can focus on your treatment and recovery without worrying about finding a parking spot.

Our car park is reserved for patients during their appointment time only. Please arrive no more than 10 minutes early and vacate promptly after your session to allow smooth clinic operations and timely closing.

You can contact Altona Physio by phone at (03) 9391 3072 during our opening hours. If we’re unable to answer, please leave a voicemail, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

For written queries, you can email us at info@altonaphysio.com or use the contact form below to send a message directly to our team.

Want to skip the call entirely? Take advantage of our online booking system, where you can view available time slots, choose what works best for you, and receive instant confirmation. It’s fast, convenient, and available anytime!

Please note: We no longer use fax. Kindly contact us via phone or email.

🤔 What if I’ve had pain for a while?

🤔 What if I’ve had pain for a while?

If your symptoms haven’t settled on their own, it’s worth getting checked. A new patient appointment helps us figure out what’s going on and how to fix it.