For patients, families and caregivers
For Patients, Families & Caregivers
Clear, evidence-based information about physiotherapy and rehabilitation — written to help you understand your condition, not to sell you treatment.
When to seek urgent medical help
Seek immediate medical attention — do not wait for a physiotherapy appointment — if you experience any of the following:
- Sudden severe weakness, numbness or loss of function, especially on one side of the body
- Loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness around the groin or inner thighs
- Sudden difficulty speaking, swallowing, or a facial droop
- Severe pain that does not ease with rest, or that consistently wakes you at night
- Fever alongside back or neck pain
- Unexplained weight loss alongside persistent pain
- Pain or swelling following a significant injury or fall
This list is not exhaustive. If you are worried about a symptom, seek professional advice.
Start here
37 condition guides, grouped by what is affected
Each guide explains what the condition is, what rehabilitation involves, what recovery realistically looks like, and when to seek help urgently. Each one names the clinician who wrote it and the clinician who checked it.
Brain, nerves and balance
Stroke, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, dizziness and vertigo, falls and walking.
Muscles, joints and spine
Back and neck pain, shoulder, knee, hip, foot and ankle problems, and sports injuries.
Heart, lungs and lymphatics
Cardiac rehabilitation, chronic lung disease, and lymphoedema.
Pelvic health
Pelvic floor rehabilitation, pregnancy and after birth, and abdominal separation.
Children
Paediatric physiotherapy, including how progress is measured and what it can and cannot show.
All conditions
The full index, with a short summary of what the evidence supports for each condition.
If you cannot find your condition, it has not been written yet rather than left out — see the editorial and review policy for how pages are chosen and checked.
What you will find here
Written to be understood, not to impress
Each condition guide answers the questions people actually ask, in the order they usually ask them.
What is actually happening
What the condition is, in plain words — what is going on in the body, why it causes the symptoms you have, and what is known about why it happened.
What rehabilitation involves
What a physiotherapist will assess, what treatment usually consists of, and what you will be asked to do between appointments — which is usually the part that matters most.
What recovery realistically looks like
Recovery varies between people, sometimes considerably. We describe the usual pattern and say plainly where it cannot be predicted, rather than offering a timeline that a substantial minority will not meet.
When to seek help urgently
Every condition guide carries the specific warning signs for that condition, and says clearly when something needs assessing today rather than at your next appointment.
For the people doing the caring
Caregivers are part of the rehabilitation, not an audience for it
Much of what determines recovery happens at home, between appointments, done by a family member who was never trained for it.
Where a condition commonly involves care at home, our guides describe safe handling and positioning, what to watch for, what is normal and what is not, and the practical limits of what should be attempted without a clinician present.
They also say what not to do. Some well-meant help causes harm — pulling on a weak arm after a stroke is the clearest example — and that is worth knowing before it happens rather than after.
What this website is not
It is not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for assessment by a qualified healthcare professional. Rehabilitation is individual: information that is appropriate for one person may be unsafe for another.
We do not give individual clinical advice by email or through this website, and we do not publish patient testimonials or star ratings.
If you need treatment
Physiotherapist India does not provide clinical care
There is no booking or consultation on this website, deliberately — the Physiotherapist India Team exists to explain, not to sell. Take what you read here to a qualified physiotherapist who can examine you, and use it to ask better questions about your own care.