Physiotherapy helps people keep or get back the movements and functions that are important to their daily lives, such as mobility, balance, movement, strength, work, home and leisure activities. It is a client-centred health profession that encourages development and facilitates recovery, allowing people to maintain their independence.

Professional Rehabilitation Support are a vital part of any health system, complementing other health interventions and helping to ensure optimal outcomes. They can reduce the impact of a broad range of health conditions and injuries, and enable people to take up or resume family and community roles.

Personalized Paths to Healing: Tailored Inpatient Recovery Plans in the UK

A person’s underlying health condition and its severity determine the need for rehabilitation, as well as the type of rehabilitation services required. It is important to provide these services at the right time and in the right setting to optimise functioning and support an individual’s recovery and goals (WHO 2015a).

People may need rehabilitation support at any level of a health care system, including in the community or at home, primary health centres, referral hospitals, or specialized rehabilitation facilities. Ideally, rehabilitation should be provided as close to the point of injury or illness as possible. However, this requires a certain degree of clinical reasoning that may be beyond the capacity of primary health workers and community-based rehabilitation providers.

Successful rehabilitation service delivery depends on the availability of health professionals trained in a variety of rehabilitative disciplines, such as physiatrists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists. WHO supports countries in developing and strengthening these rehabilitation workforces.