Animal Physiotherapy Group (APG)

The Animal Physiotherapy Group (APG) has an approximate membership of 50 qualified physiotherapists throughout Australia. Members of the APG must be registered physiotherapists. A few of these members are working full time with animals – mainly equine and canine work – and a few work part time. The majority of the membership is made up of physiotherapists who are interested in working with animals but are not actually doing so. One of our major issues at present is the discontinuation of the Masters in Animal Physiotherapy course through the University of Queensland. We are trying hard to get it re-instated but at this time it is not looking too positive. Without such postgraduate training it makes it very difficult for individual interested physiotherapists to take on animal physiotherapy as a career. On a more optimistic note, we are a member of the proposed International Animal Physiotherapy Association with the aim of becoming a subgroup to the WCPT. This will mean international support and networking for animal physiotherapists.

Benefits

It is recognised that, as the group expands and matures, benefits of group membership need to increase. However at this stage benefits include:

• ability to network with other members who have a similar interest
• access to experienced physiotherapists currently working with animals
• reduction of fees to attend workshops and the conference
• newsletter twice a year

Career Pathway

There is no formal pathway. Each individual physiotherapist must build up their own practice either through working directly with veterinary surgeons or indirectly on a referral basis. It is not an easy process to build up a practice in this very new and competitive market.

History

The Animal Physiotherapy Group has been in place for some 10 years, starting off with the Australian Animal Physiotherapists Association formed by a group of enthusiastic physiotherapists who met in Brisbane late 1998. The group became a national group of the APA 5 years ago.