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Professionals · code 2264

Physiotherapists

Physiotherapists assess, plan and implement rehabilitative programmes that improve or restore human motor functions, maximize movement ability, relieve pain syndromes, and treat or prevent physical challenges associated with injuries, diseases and other impairments. They apply a broad range of physical therapies and techniques such as movement, ultrasound, heating, laser and other techniques. Tasks include - (a) administering muscle, nerve, joint functional ability and other tests to identify and assess physical problems of patients; (b) establishing treatment goals with patients and designing treatment programmes to reduce physical pain, strengthen muscles, improve cardiothoracic, cardiovascular and respiratory functions, restore joint mobility and improve balance and coordination; (c) developing, implementing and monitoring programmes and treatments using the therapeutic properties of exercise, heat, cold, massage, manipulation, hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, ultraviolet and infra-red light and ultrasound in the treatment of patients; (d) instructing patients and their families in procedures to be continued outside clinical settings; (e) recording information on patients’ health status and responses to treatment in medical records-keeping systems, and sharing information with other health professionals as required to ensure continuing and comprehensive care; (f) developing and implementing programmes for screening and prevention of common physical ailments and disorders; (g) supervising the work of physiotherapy assistants and others. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Geriatric physical therapist - Manipulative therapist - Orthopaedic physical therapist - Paediatric physical therapist - Physical therapist - Physiotherapist Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Chiropractor - 2269 - Occupational therapist - 2269 - Osteopath - 2269 - Podiatrist - 2269 - Acupressure therapist - 3255 - Hydrotherapist - 3255 - Massage therapist - 3255 - Physiotherapy technician - 3255 - Shiatsu therapist - 3255

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 228 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • advanced physiotherapist
  • animal physiotherapist
  • physiotherapist

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

71.6
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 28.4 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 28.4 = 71.6

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

48.7
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 2 US jobs

30.1
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 36.6 · hand skill 36.6 · cramped spaces 17.2 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 48.7 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 56, while the average is 28.4. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 56

    Recording information on patients' health status and responses to treatment in medical records-keeping systems, and sharing information with other health professionals as required to ensure continuing and comprehensive care

    Medium
  2. 35.5

    Developing and implementing programmes for screening and prevention of common physical ailments and disorders

    Low
  3. 32.3

    Supervising the work of physiotherapy assistants and others.

    Low
  4. 22.8

    Instructing patients and their families in procedures to be continued outside clinical settings

    Very Low
  5. 19

    Establishing treatment goals with patients and designing treatment programmes to reduce physical pain, strengthen muscles, improve cardiothoracic, cardiovascular and respiratory functions, restore joint mobility and improve balance and coordination

    Very Low
  6. 16.5

    Administering muscle, nerve, joint functional ability and other tests to identify and assess physical problems of patients

    Very Low
  7. 16.5

    Developing, implementing and monitoring programmes and treatments using the therapeutic properties of exercise, heat, cold, massage, manipulation, hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, ultraviolet and infra-red light and ultrasound in the treatment of patients

    Very Low

7 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
67
AI does it for you
30

Helping wins by 37 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2525

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.2. This one is above that.