Physiotherapy is one of the most broadly applicable allied health supports in the NDIS. It covers far more than injury recovery. Neurological rehabilitation, falls prevention, respiratory support, paediatric development, hydrotherapy, assistive technology prescription, and pain management are all within scope. Many participants and families don’t know exactly what their NDIS plan will fund, which budget category to claim from, or how physiotherapy differs from exercise physiology. This guide covers the current 2025-26 rate, how Improved Daily Living and Core Supports apply, and how to get physiotherapy into your plan.
What Is NDIS Physiotherapy?
NDIS physiotherapy is funded support delivered by an AHPRA-registered physiotherapist to help participants improve movement, strength, balance, mobility, and physical function. All physiotherapists practising in Australia must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). This registration requirement applies whether the physio is working in a clinic, in a participant’s home, or in a community setting.
Under the NDIS, physiotherapy focuses on building and maintaining functional capacity related to a participant’s disability. It is not for general health and wellness, sports injuries, or conditions unrelated to disability. The support must be directly linked to the participant’s disability and aimed at achieving plan goals. It must not be available through Medicare or the public hospital system, and must be considered reasonable and necessary.
The range of conditions physiotherapy supports under the NDIS is broad. It covers children, young people, and adults across neurological, physical, respiratory, and developmental presentations, as well as psychosocial disability where deconditioning is significant.
What Conditions Does NDIS Physiotherapy Support?
Neurological Conditions
Neurological physiotherapy is one of the most significant and well-funded areas under the NDIS. Conditions where physiotherapy plays a central role include stroke, MS, Parkinson’s disease, acquired brain injury, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and motor neuron disease. In these conditions, physiotherapy targets gait retraining, balance and coordination, muscle strength, spasticity management, fatigue management, falls prevention, and posture.
Neurological conditions often change over time. A person with Parkinson’s disease may be walking well at initial assessment but face increasing difficulty with balance and freezing episodes as the condition progresses. A person recovering from stroke may require intensive rehabilitation early and then a maintenance program to prevent regression. Physiotherapy under the NDIS accommodates both. Intensive skill-building is funded from Capacity Building. Maintenance support, where regression is likely without ongoing therapy, is funded from Core Supports.
Musculoskeletal Conditions
Joint conditions, chronic pain, post-surgical rehabilitation, and musculoskeletal complications of disability are all within physiotherapy scope. Conditions include arthritis, chronic pain syndromes, fibromyalgia, and secondary musculoskeletal complications of long-term disability arising from spinal cord injury or wheelchair use.
The key qualifier is that the condition must be disability-related. An independent acute injury normally managed through Medicare does not qualify. Chronic pain related to a person’s disability and significantly affecting their function can meet this test.
Respiratory Conditions
This is one of the least-discussed areas of NDIS physiotherapy and one where many participants miss out. Respiratory physiotherapy helps people manage cystic fibrosis, COPD related to disability, neuromuscular conditions affecting respiratory muscles, and secretion management following spinal cord injury. Techniques include airway clearance, breathing exercises, and education in respiratory management strategies. Where a respiratory condition is directly related to a disability, NDIS funding may apply.
Developmental Conditions in Children
Paediatric physiotherapy is a core component of early childhood intervention under the NDIS. Children with developmental delay, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, hypotonia, or spina bifida benefit significantly from physiotherapy during the critical developmental window.
For children under 9, physiotherapy is commonly accessed through the NDIS Early Childhood Approach. Children under 6 can begin receiving physiotherapy through Early Connections without a formal diagnosis. Physiotherapy at this stage focuses on gross motor milestones, posture, and mobility. These form the movement foundations that underpin participation in play, school, and daily life.
Psychosocial Disability
Physiotherapy for psychosocial disability (disability arising from mental health conditions) receives almost no attention in standard NDIS physiotherapy guides. Yet this is a real and significant need. People with severe or persistent mental health conditions often develop significant deconditioning through reduced activity, social isolation, or medication side effects.
Where a participant has a psychosocial disability and deconditioning affects their functional capacity and daily independence, physiotherapy may be NDIS-funded. The physiotherapist would document the functional impact of the deconditioning and the goals for physical rehabilitation in the context of the participant’s overall disability.
What Does NDIS Physiotherapy Include?
The range of services a physiotherapist provides under the NDIS is wider than most participants expect. Funded services include:
- Functional mobility assessment: Evaluating current movement capacity, balance, gait, and strength to establish a baseline and identify goals
- Individualised exercise programs: Tailored programs for strength, flexibility, balance, cardiovascular fitness, and functional movement
- Manual therapy: Hands-on techniques including joint mobilisation, soft tissue massage, and therapeutic techniques to improve range of motion and reduce pain
- Gait training: Relearning and improving walking patterns, often following neurological injury or progressive neurological conditions
- Falls prevention programs: Structured programs targeting balance, lower limb strength, reaction time, and home safety to reduce fall risk
- Hydrotherapy (aquatic physiotherapy): Water-based therapy in a heated pool environment, used for conditions where land-based exercise is difficult due to pain, spasticity, or limited weight-bearing capacity
- Respiratory physiotherapy: Airway clearance, breathing exercise prescription, and secretion management
- Assistive technology assessment and prescription: Recommending and trialling mobility aids, orthotics, standing frames, gait trainers, and wheelchairs
- Carer and support worker training: Equipping the people who support the participant with the skills to assist safely and consistently implement physiotherapy strategies
- Report writing: Functional capacity assessments, progress reports, and plan review reports
Hydrotherapy Under the NDIS
Hydrotherapy is funded when delivered by a physiotherapist and clinically justified in the participant’s plan. The warm water environment reduces joint load and allows movement that may not be possible on land. It is particularly beneficial for participants with spasticity, chronic pain, or severe deconditioning.
One point that creates confusion is the pool entry fee. The physiotherapist’s time is funded from Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living. The cost of entering the pool facility is generally not funded by the same budget. Transport to and from the pool may be claimable under Core Supports where the participant cannot access the facility independently due to their disability. Participants and plan managers should clarify this split before booking hydrotherapy sessions to avoid unexpected out-of-pocket costs.
NDIS Physiotherapy vs Exercise Physiology
This is one of the most common questions in NDIS planning, and one that almost no competitor guide answers clearly. Physiotherapy and exercise physiology overlap significantly in scope but differ in training, registration, clinical focus, and NDIS funding category.
Physiotherapists are AHPRA-registered clinicians. They assess and treat movement disorders, pain, and physical function related to disability, injury, or medical conditions. Their tools include manual therapy, hydrotherapy, gait training, respiratory techniques, and assistive technology prescription. Under the NDIS, physiotherapy is funded under Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living at a maximum rate of $183.99 per hour under the 2025-26 PAPL.
Exercise physiologists are accredited through Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA) as Accredited Exercise Scientists (AES) or Accredited Exercise Physiologists (AEP). They design structured exercise programs primarily for managing chronic conditions, building physical capacity, and improving health. Under the NDIS, exercise physiology is funded under Capacity Building: Improved Health and Wellbeing at a maximum rate of $166.99 per hour.
Both can be funded in the same NDIS plan where both are clinically indicated. A participant with Parkinson’s disease might use physiotherapy for gait retraining and falls prevention, and exercise physiology for an ongoing cardiovascular and strength program. The two disciplines complement each other and do not compete for the same funding category.
NDIS Physiotherapy Rates in 2025-26
The NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2025-26 (PAPL v1.1, effective 24 November 2025) sets the maximum rate for physiotherapy at $183.99 per hour. This is the price cap for NDIA-managed and plan-managed participants using registered providers.
For comparison, the 2025-26 allied health rate hierarchy is:
- Psychology and behaviour support: $232.99 per hour
- Occupational therapy and speech pathology: $193.99 per hour
- Physiotherapy: $183.99 per hour
- Exercise physiology: $166.99 per hour
Provider travel changed in the 2025-26 PAPL. Physiotherapists, like all therapy providers, now bill travel time at 50% of the hourly therapy rate. For physiotherapy, that is $91.99 per hour for travel, not the full therapy rate. Vehicle running costs are claimable separately at up to $0.99 per kilometre. This reduction primarily affects participants who receive physiotherapy at home or in community settings and whose physiotherapist travels to reach them.
The 2026-27 PAPL is expected to take effect from 1 July 2026. Rates may change at that point. The current 2025-26 rates apply until then.
How Much Physiotherapy Funding Is Typical?
The NDIS does not set fixed amounts for physiotherapy. Funding is based on individual assessed needs and goals. Typical allocations at the moderate-complexity end are $2,000 to $4,000 per year, roughly 10 to 20 hours of physiotherapy. For participants with complex neurological conditions, significant spasticity, or high rehabilitation needs following acquired brain injury, allocations can be substantially higher.
Which NDIS Budget Category Covers Physiotherapy?
Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living
This is where almost all physiotherapy sits. Category 15 in the NDIS Support Catalogue. In NDIS plan documents it appears as “Improved Daily Living.” In the myplace portal it appears as “CB Daily Activity.” These are the same thing. This budget covers assessments, therapy sessions, exercise program development, report writing, and carer training.
Capacity Building funding is not flexible between categories. If your plan has $5,000 in Improved Daily Living, you cannot redirect it to support coordination or transport. Within Improved Daily Living, the budget can generally be used across different allied health disciplines unless your plan has stated supports.
Core Supports: Assistance with Daily Life
Where physiotherapy is needed to maintain function and prevent regression rather than build new skills, Core Supports may be the appropriate category. This is relevant for participants with degenerative neurological conditions. The goal there is not to build capacity but to slow decline and preserve current function.
This distinction matters at plan review. Physiotherapy for skill-building and rehabilitation goes in Capacity Building. Physiotherapy for maintenance of existing function in a deteriorating condition can be argued to belong in Core Supports. A Support Coordinator or experienced physiotherapist can help frame this correctly in supporting reports.
Capital Supports: Assistive Technology
Physiotherapists frequently prescribe assistive technology as part of their work. Walking frames, orthotics, ankle-foot orthoses, standing frames, gait trainers, wheelchairs, and other mobility aids are not funded from the Improved Daily Living budget. They sit under Capital Supports: Assistive Technology. Low-cost AT items under $1,500 require quotes. High-cost items over $1,500 require an AT assessment report from a qualified therapist (typically the physiotherapist or OT) and NDIS approval before purchase.
How to Get Physiotherapy Into Your NDIS Plan
- Start with a physiotherapy assessment. Contact a physiotherapist (or call the NDIS on 1800 800 110 to find local providers) before your planning meeting. An initial assessment and written report documenting your functional limitations, the physiotherapy goals, and the recommended frequency and duration provides the clinical evidence your NDIS planner needs to include physiotherapy funding.
- Set specific, functional goals. Vague goals weaken your case for physiotherapy funding. “Improve my mobility” is weaker than “Walk independently to the letterbox and back without assistance three times per week.” Specific, measurable goals tied to your daily life give the planner a clear reason to fund physiotherapy.
- Raise physiotherapy explicitly at planning. Do not assume it will be included based on your diagnosis. Name the support, the recommended frequency, and the clinical rationale. Bring the physiotherapist’s report with you or ensure it has been submitted before the meeting.
- If your current plan has insufficient physio funding, request a review. If your physiotherapist recommends more frequent sessions than your current budget allows, document this with a progress report and request an early plan review. The NDIA does not automatically increase funding; you need to provide evidence that your current allocation is insufficient for your goals.
- Consider your plan management type. NDIA-managed participants must use registered physiotherapy providers. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use any AHPRA-registered physiotherapist. Plan management significantly broadens your provider options and may enable access to physiotherapists who are not NDIS-registered but are highly experienced in your specific condition.
Physiotherapy in Complex and Trauma-Affected Situations
Most guides to NDIS physiotherapy focus on clinical conditions. The experience of physiotherapy can be more complex for people who have experienced trauma, family violence, or sustained periods of social isolation.
For women and young people who have experienced family violence, the physical impacts are often significant and underrecognised. Chronic pain from injuries, deconditioning from restricted movement during abusive relationships, and the physical effects of sustained stress and trauma all create genuine physiotherapy need. A physiotherapist who understands trauma-informed practice knows that pain and physical limitation may have complex histories. Touch-based techniques require careful, informed consent. The pace of therapy may need to adjust to the person’s overall circumstances and safety situation.
Physiotherapy in this context works best as part of a broader allied health team. When a physiotherapist shares insights with a psychologist (with consent), treatment planning responds to the whole person rather than the symptom alone.
Why Choose Tenax Supports for NDIS Physiotherapy
Physical rehabilitation requires consistency: a participant who attends sessions regularly and practises their home exercise program will see fundamentally different outcomes from one who engages sporadically. Staying on track through the difficult phases of rehabilitation, at a pace that suits each person's circumstances, often comes down to how well a participant's support team works together.
Tenax Supports is a Victoria-based registered NDIS provider. While we don't employ physiotherapists directly, our Support Coordination service helps participants find and coordinate physiotherapy alongside their other NDIS-funded supports, keeping therapy goals aligned across the whole support team.
Physiotherapy needs vary widely across the NDIS population, from children working on gross motor development, to adults in neurological rehabilitation, to older participants managing falls risk. Support Coordination helps identify a physiotherapist with the right experience for the participant's specific presentation, and helps keep that support on track for participants whose physiotherapy needs sit alongside other complex circumstances.
Our Support Coordination service helps participants navigate their plan, understand which budget covers physiotherapy, and prepare evidence for plan reviews. This is particularly valuable where a participant needs physiotherapy alongside OT, psychology, or behaviour support and wants those services to work together rather than independently. For participants where family violence, housing instability, or child protection involvement adds complexity to NDIS navigation, our Support Coordination team can also provide the higher-level, Specialist Support Coordination approach.
For related reading, see our guides to the NDIS in Australia, NDIS occupational therapy, NDIS behaviour support, and NDIS support coordination.
For current information on Tenax Supports' NDIS registration, search the NDIS Commission Provider Register at ndiscommission.gov.au.
Contact Tenax Supports at tenaxsupports.com.au/contact or call 03 7018 8666. Referrals can be submitted at tenaxsupports.com.au/referrals.
Frequently Asked Questions About NDIS Physiotherapy
What does NDIS physiotherapy cover?
NDIS physiotherapy covers functional assessment, exercise programs, manual therapy, gait training, falls prevention, hydrotherapy, respiratory physiotherapy, pain management, assistive technology assessment, carer training, and report writing. It is funded primarily under Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living. Where maintenance of existing function is needed in a degenerative condition, Core Supports may also apply. AT prescribed by a physio is funded under Capital Supports.
How much does NDIS physiotherapy cost per hour?
The 2025-26 NDIS rate for physiotherapy is $183.99 per hour. Travel is billed at 50% of the hourly rate ($91.99/hr). The next pricing update (2026-27 PAPL) is expected from 1 July 2026. Providers may charge below the cap but cannot exceed it for NDIA-managed or plan-managed participants.
Physiotherapy therapy sits under Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living (CB Daily Activity in the myplace portal). Maintenance therapy for degenerative conditions may fit Core Supports. AT prescribed by a physiotherapist, such as walkers, orthotics, or standing frames, is funded under Capital Supports: Assistive Technology, separate from the therapy budget.
NDIS physiotherapy supports neurological conditions (stroke, MS, Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy), musculoskeletal and chronic pain conditions, respiratory conditions, developmental conditions in children, and psychosocial disability.
Can NDIS fund hydrotherapy?
Yes. The physiotherapist’s time for hydrotherapy is funded under Capacity Building: Improved Daily Living. Pool entry and facility costs are generally not funded through the same budget. Transport to the pool may be claimable under Core Supports where the participant cannot access the facility independently. The clinical rationale for hydrotherapy must be documented in the participant’s plan.
What is the difference between NDIS physiotherapy and exercise physiology?
Physiotherapists (AHPRA registered) treat movement, pain, and function using manual therapy, hydrotherapy, gait training, and AT prescription. Funded under Improved Daily Living at $183.99/hr. Exercise physiologists (ESSA accredited) design exercise programs for chronic condition management. Funded under Improved Health and Wellbeing at $166.99/hr. Both can be in the same plan where both are clinically indicated.
Do I need a GP referral to access NDIS physiotherapy?
No. You can contact a physiotherapist directly once physiotherapy is funded in your NDIS plan. NDIA-managed participants must use registered providers. Plan-managed and self-managed participants can use any AHPRA-registered physiotherapist. A GP or specialist report is helpful for the NDIS access application itself but is not needed to start therapy once your plan is in place.