Good afternoon, prospective physiotherapy students. My name is Dominic Fisher and
I’m a lecturer at Stellenbosch University, Division of Physiotherapy.
I’m the first-year coordinator and take care of all the needs of first-year students that enter our Division.
Today I’ll be presenting some information that will assist you in deciding on
joining us at Stellenbosch University as a Physiotherapy student in the next year or two.
Physiotherapy is a broad career, a broad profession, and has a place for everyone.
Many of you may have had contact with a physiotherapist in your own lives and have some insight
while physiotherapists deal with many, many conditions that affect the body and include
the joints, musculoskeletal system, the neurological system,
the respiratory and cardiometabolic system as well.
When you become a physiotherapist, you will find that there is a place for everybody.
The World Confederation of Physical Therapists define the profession or describe the profession
as the provision of services to people and populations to develop, maintain, and restore
maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan.
It includes the provision of services in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by the
process of aging or that of injury or disease.
When you complete a degree in Physiotherapy,
you have a professional degree and are under the auspices of governing bodies
like the South African Society of Physiotherapy, the Health Professions Council of South Africa,
and we are all under the world body of the World Confederation of Physical Therapists.
The core business of Physiotherapy has to do with movement and pain.
Although that may sound narrow, it has broad implications for the entire body.
As I mentioned, the brain and spinal cord, the neural system, the musculoskeletal system, and the cardiorespiratory system.
Physiotherapy sees full and functional movement as at the heart of what it means to be healthy.
The central aim of physiotherapy is to restore optimal function,
as I mentioned, and reduce the impact of dysfunction.
There are many areas of practice that may interest you as you journey in your
undergraduate and postgraduate training.
The three main areas, as I mentioned, relate to the orthopaedic system or musculoskeletal system;
the neurological system, including the brain and spinal cord; and the surgical and integrated system.
Although these systems may sound silo, they are very
integrated and often patients present with a combination or integration of these conditions.
In orthopaedic or neuromusculoskeletal physiotherapy, as I mentioned, you’ll
be mainly dealing with neural, muscle, bones, and joints.
Common conditions that you might encounter relate to lower back pain, joint sprains, arthritis,
amputations, workplace and sports injuries, problems with posture and incontinence, and reduced mobility,
and includes postoperative rehabilitation.
The medical and surgical areas of physiotherapy also integrates the orthopaedic, neurological and
medical and surgical conditions, and you’ll find physiotherapists dealing with these
conditions in the ICUs, including post-thoracic surgery, and cardiorespiratory disorders.
Physiotherapists that work in the area of neurological impairments or rehabilitation
deal with disorders of the nervous system, including head injury and spinal cord injuries,
and treat functional and movement deficits as a result of disorders of the nervous system,
and also includes stroke and Parkinson’s disease.
Once you complete your training at the University of Stellenbosch, career options will
include working in the area of sports physiotherapy, occupational health,
working in primary healthcare settings, community rehabilitation, the ICU, as well as hydrotherapy.
The Physiotherapy course at Stellenbosch University is a four-year Bachelor of Science degree
and 55 new first-year students are selected into the programme each year.
An exciting development at the Division of Physiotherapy starting from
this year, 2022, is a renewal of the curriculum and a move towards problem-based learning.
On this slide I have pictures of alumni and current staff.
The head of our Department is Distinguished Professor Quinette Louw, who also holds a South African research chair in rehabilitation.
Previous students have gone on to work as the Stormers and now actually Springboks Rugby physiotherapist,
as well as in cricket and all sorts of other areas within the realm of sports and rehabilitation physiotherapy.
I want to thank you for your attention.
I hope this information has provided you with some excitement and insight
into the career of physiotherapists and physiotherapy and what you are likely to expect.
We look forward to seeing you at the Division of Physiotherapy in the next few years.
We can’t wait to meet you. I want to thank you one more time for your attention. Thank you very much.