Physiotherapy at Westmead Hospital

Outpatient services - exercise groups

Hydrotherapy groups

Hydrotherapy is a physiotherapy treatment carried out in water.

All patients attending hydrotherapy must be assessed by a physiotherapist prior to commencing sessions. Some patients will require a medical clearance form to be completed by their referring medical officer prior to commencing hydrotherapy.

Hydrotherapy groups include:

• circuit class – designed for chronic conditions and exercise maintenance
• minimal supervision – designed to consolidate exercises learnt in hydrotherapy sessions. This provides the opportunity to continue with your prescribed hydrotherapy program in preparation for commencement at a local pool. This is for a maximum period of 3 months as available. At the end of this time, participants are expected to be able to continue with their program independently at a local pool
• women’s health ante natal and post natal class – for pregnant and post-partum patients. This is a specialty service run by expert physiotherapists and provides whole body exercises tailored to this group.

Pelvic floor muscle exercise group

Group physiotherapy services provided by the women's health physiotherapy team include:

• pelvic floor muscle training (on an ad hoc basis )
• continence education sessions. These are held throughout the year for outpatients to increase their knowledge and understanding of continence and pelvic floor muscle dysfunction.

Outpatient exercise groups

Physiotherapists working in the musculoskeletal outpatient department provide group services that are designed to assist with the ongoing management of certain conditions. Groups include:

• back group
• hip and knee group
• breast cancer exercise group.

Breast cancer exercise group

The FAME (Fitness and Movement Exercise ) group provides the opportunity for breast cancer patients to attend a group exercise class which provides both resistance and aerobic exercises. This class runs once a week over a 12 week period.