Common Conditions Treated in Physiotherapy: When to See a Physiotherapist
Pain that has stopped improving, a sprain, a stiff back, vertigo: when to see a physiotherapist in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal.
Clinically reviewed by Justin Lapointe, member of the OAQ · August 8, 2026
Three weeks now, your shoulder has pulled every time you raise your arm. It doesn’t keep you from working, so you wait for it to pass. Then you stop sleeping on that side, you start grabbing things with the other hand, and the hesitation drags on.
The real question isn’t only what physiotherapy treats. It’s knowing when to consult instead of waiting. Here are the concerns that bring people to physiotherapy, and, for each, the signal that it’s time to talk about it.
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When to consult rather than wait
Three signals are worth more than any list of diagnoses.
The pain has stopped moving. A recent injury changes from day to day: worse the next morning, easier the following week. When nothing changes any more, the body isn’t repairing itself; it has organized itself around the problem.
You’ve changed how you move. You climb stairs always leading with the same leg, you turn your whole torso instead of your head, you avoid a movement without even thinking about it. These compensations are useful in the short term and costly over time: they shift the load somewhere else.
It keeps coming back to the same place. The same ankle, the same shoulder, the same lower back, two or three times a year. A repeated recurrence rarely means bad luck. It means something is left to work on between episodes.
Muscle and joint pain
This is the most common reason to consult, and it covers three quite distinct families.
Tendinitis and bursitis are inflammations of the tendons or the bursae, caused by repetitive movements or overload. You recognize them by their loyalty: it’s always the same movement that wakes the pain. As long as nothing changes in how that movement is produced, it keeps producing it.
Sprains and strains involve the ligaments or the muscles, often in athletes or after a simple awkward movement. The pain of a sprain usually leaves well before stability has returned, and that gap is what explains relapses.
Osteoarthritis is a degeneration of the joints that causes pain and stiffness, mostly in the knees, hips and spine. Cartilage doesn’t repair itself, but everything around it can be worked on: the strength of the muscles around the joint, the range available, the way load is spread through the day.
Back and neck pain
The back and the neck are the most frequent concerns in the clinic.
Low-back and neck pain, acute or chronic, are often tied to inadequate posture or a lack of mobility. A badly set-up desk injures no one in a day; it does it over months, which is why nobody suspects it.
A disc herniation is a compression of the nerves caused by a disc protrusion, leading to pain, numbness or muscle weakness. When pain travels down the leg or the arm, when an area goes numb or strength is missing, the assessment should not wait.
Scoliosis and other postural disorders are misalignments of the spine that can create pain over the long term. The misalignment itself is not always the problem; what brings people in is the pain or the limitation it ends up creating.
After an injury or surgery
After an injury or an operation, physiotherapy rehabilitation is part of the care: recovery is worked through step by step, safely.
That covers post-surgical rehabilitation, after knee, shoulder or back surgery, with a plan adapted to each patient. It also covers the aftermath of fractures and prolonged immobilization, where the strength and mobility lost during forced rest have to be restored. An immobilized limb loses strength faster than it regains it, and no one recovers at the same pace.
The schedule belongs first to the team that operated. When no date has been set, the end of immobilization is the natural moment to open a file.
Vertigo, dizziness and balance
Physiotherapy is not limited to musculoskeletal problems. Vertigo and dizziness tied to the vestibular system are addressed through specific exercises, and it is one of the clinic’s specialties.
The typical picture is not a general malaise: it’s vertigo triggered by a position or a head movement. Rolling over in bed, bending down to tie a shoe, looking up at a high shelf. When you start avoiding those movements, the assessment is worth the trip.
Red flag. Sudden weakness on one side of the body, trouble speaking or seeing, abrupt vertigo with vomiting, numbness that sets in quickly, or intense pain after a significant impact: these call for immediate medical assessment (811 or 911), not a physiotherapy appointment.
Athletes and stage performers
Josh Whelan, physiotherapist and member of the OPPQ, specializes in orthopaedic and sports physiotherapy. Before physiotherapy, he trained as a classical singer, and that experience feeds a particular attentiveness to stage performers: dancers, musicians, athletes.
The work then bears on motor control, posture and endurance, that is, on the movements a discipline repeats thousands of times. A violinist and a runner don’t share the same constraints, but they share the same problem: a fine, repeated load, in a body that has no off-season.
What happens at the first appointment
The first appointment is the file-opening visit and lasts one hour. It’s a complete evaluation followed by the start of treatment: we look for the origin of the problem, not just the spot that hurts. Follow-up formats, 45 or 30 minutes, come next, according to the plan agreed on with Josh.
Sessions are held in French or English, as you prefer. German and Italian are possible on request.
Physiotherapy or acupuncture?
The two are practised under the same roof, and the question of which door to walk through comes up often. It settles by scope of practice, not by comparison: physiotherapy works on strength, motor control and the return to movement; acupuncture, on pain and tension.
In practice, a problem where load, strength or the mechanics of a movement are central belongs to physiotherapy. A pain or a tension you first want to calm belongs to acupuncture. Many situations lend themselves to the combined approach: depending on your case, one, the other, or both. If in doubt about which door, call us: it’s simpler than deciding alone.
Read next: physiotherapy at the clinic, and office syndrome and remote work.
A pain that has stopped improving, a movement you avoid? Let’s have a look together. Book an appointment with Josh, in the Plateau-Mont-Royal.
In the Plateau-Mont-Royal, 7 days a week — file opening 60 minutes, follow-ups 30 or 45 minutes. With Josh Whelan, physiotherapist and member of the OPPQ. Book online. In the clinic: physiotherapy with Josh Whelan, our treatments and our rates.
In the Plateau-Mont-Royal, open 7 days a week. Acupuncturists · OAQ members, physiotherapist · OPPQ member. Insurance receipts issued on site.Our content follows a published editorial methodology.