Occupational Health Physiotherapy Australia (OHPA)

Lift the curtain and see the world at work! Enjoy the diversity of work and the opportunities for travel, within a professional field that offers rewarding challenges.

A Unique Position

Across Australia, businesses are increasingly coming to acknowledge the value of innovative and pro-active injury prevention and management strategies, in their business model. Physiotherapists are well placed to contribute to this evolving focus.

An understanding of the effect of pathology on an individual’s capacity to work, places the Physiotherapist in an important and unique position in injury management and vocational rehabilitation. This, combined with excellent clinical reasoning ability, refined observation and communication skills and expertise in physiology and biomechanics, enable physiotherapists to provide a broad range of high level consulting services to the business community, in the areas of injury prevention and injury management.

Background / development

In the mid-1980s the Ergonomic and Occupational Health Group (EOHG) was formed, as a special interest group within the Australian Physiotherapy Association. At about the same time, Occupational Health, Safety & Welfare (OHS&W) legislation was introduced and updated in all Australian jurisdictions. Members of the Physiotherapy profession recognise the need to contribute to the health and well-being of workers with a risk management approach to injury prevention and management, in line with this workplace legislation. In 2005, the EOHG was renamed the Occupational Health Physiotherapy Australia (OHPA) group, in order to best represent the diverse range of activities performed by Physiotherapists in this field and to maintain alignment with the focus of Australian business.

Career Pathway

The OHPA career pathway is currently being developed by the National Committee. For further information regarding the career pathway please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Last Updated - Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05