Published by SESI Care Services · Updated August 2026 · 2-minute summary
Quick answer: In-home physiotherapy works for older adults because the therapy happens where the problems happen: balance and strength training in your own hallway, walking practice on your own floors, aids fitted to your own chair. Australian guidelines ask over-65s for strength work on 2 or more days a week and balance work on 3 or more. Support at Home funds it with no contribution; NDIS plans use Improved Daily Living.
Key takeaways
- Falls are not inevitable. The Better Health Channel says many can be prevented, and a physiotherapist can design an exercise program that suits you.
- Home is the most common place people fall, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) — exactly where an in-home physio works.
- Strength and balance are what the guidelines ask for: strengthening on 2 or more days a week, balance and coordination work on 3 or more.
- Real-environment practice — your own steps, rugs, bed and bathroom — makes the plan practical.
- Funding differs by program. NDIS: Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living. Over-65s: Support at Home, where physiotherapy is clinical care with no contribution.
- The Restorative Care Pathway gives older people up to 16 weeks of allied-health-led care after a setback.
Why does the home setting matter so much for older adults?
Because an older adult’s risks and goals are about their own home, and a physiotherapist can only fix what they can see.
The AIHW’s national falls data reports that falls caused 43.4% of all injury hospitalisations in 2024–25, and that home was the most commonly specified place they happened. For an older person the risky places are the lounge room, the bathroom and the path to the letterbox, not the gym.
The Better Health Channel’s guide to falls prevention at home puts it plainly: “Falls are not inevitable and many older people can be prevented from falling.” It recommends exercise for balance, strength and flexibility, and says a physiotherapist can help design a program that suits you. A clinic physiotherapist cannot see any of that; an in-home physiotherapist can (see in-home allied health versus clinic appointments).
What are the physical benefits of physiotherapy at home?
Better balance, more strength, safer walking and less pain — all trained in the rooms where you need them.
1. Balance training where you actually lose your balance
At home a physiotherapist can train balance at the exact spots where you wobble: turning in the narrow hallway, stepping over the shower lip, standing up from your soft couch. The Australian Government’s physical activity recommendations for older adults (65 years and over) ask for “functional activities targeting mobility, balance, and coordination on 3 or more days per week”.
2. Strength work using your own furniture
The same guidelines recommend “muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days per week”. At home the program is built around what you have — sit-to-stand from your dining chair, step-ups on your front step, calf raises at the benchtop. The Better Health Channel’s page on physical activity for seniors notes that “muscle mass can increase in the older person after regularly exercising for a relatively short period of time”.
3. Gait practice on real floors, real steps and real distances
A wide, flat clinic corridor says little about the step down to the laundry, the slope of the driveway or the night-time trip to the toilet. At home, gait training happens on those surfaces, with the walking aid you actually use.
4. Walking aids and rails fitted to your chair, bed and shower
A frame set to the wrong height can add a fall risk instead of removing one. At home the physiotherapist sets the frame to your posture, checks it fits through your doorways, and sees which hand you reach with from your bed. Where a rail, raised toilet seat or shower chair is needed, they can mark where it goes and hand over to an occupational therapist for the report.
5. Pain management built into the movements that hurt
Pain often shows up during tasks — getting out of bed, reaching into the oven, hanging washing on the Hills Hoist. An in-home physiotherapist watches those tasks, changes the technique and adds gentle mobility and strengthening work around them.
6. Recovery after a hospital stay or a fall
Coming home from hospital is a high-risk time: strength drops quickly and the home feels harder. Physiotherapy in the first weeks back rebuilds confidence on the actual tasks — stairs, shower, getting into the car — and spots new hazards. This is what the Support at Home Restorative Care Pathway is for (more below).
What are the practical benefits for older adults and their families?
No travel, family who know the technique, hazards that get fixed, and goals measured where you live.
7. No travel, so the program actually continues
Getting to a clinic is a real barrier: no car, no confident driver, and energy spent before the appointment starts. When the physiotherapist comes to you, it is easier to keep the program going. Between visits, a telehealth check-in can fill the gap.
8. Family and support workers learn the same technique
A home visit is the natural place to teach the people who help every day — a partner, an adult child, a support worker. They learn how to prompt an exercise, spot a safe transfer and know when to step back. Everyone then cues the same way, which matters most for people with an intellectual disability or memory problems.
9. Hazards are found and fixed, not just described
The Better Health Channel lists the fixes: clear walkways, secure rugs, repair worn carpet, improve lighting between bed and bathroom, install bathroom grab rails. An in-home physiotherapist can point to each one and hand anything needing a report and funded modification to an occupational therapist.
10. Goals that are about your life, measured in your home
The goal is getting to the clothesline, showering without help, or walking to the shops. Re-testing those goals in the home keeps the program honest. The first visit assesses exactly these things — see your first in-home allied health visit. Our guide to building a safe home exercise routine from your physio’s plan shows how to keep that going between visits.
Who pays for in-home physiotherapy: the NDIS or Support at Home?
It depends on whether the person is an NDIS participant or receives aged care.
| NDIS participant | Over 65, not on the NDIS | |
|---|---|---|
| Program | NDIS plan | Support at Home (via My Aged Care) |
| Budget line | Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living | Clinical care services |
| Participant contribution | None — claimed from the plan | None — clinical care is fully government funded |
| 2026–27 price limit | $183.99 per hour for physiotherapy | Set in your provider’s service agreement |
| Short-term intensive option | Ask for a plan variation with functional evidence | Restorative Care Pathway — up to 16 weeks |
| Who to call | National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) 1800 800 110 | My Aged Care 1800 200 422 |
NDIS participants (including those who turned 65 and chose to stay) use Capacity Building – Improved Daily Living. No GP referral is needed. The 2026–27 NDIS price limit for physiotherapy is $183.99 per hour, with travel itemised separately. The full process is in our pillar guide, how to access in-home allied health under the NDIS in Victoria.
Older people not on the NDIS use the Support at Home program, which replaced Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. Physiotherapy is clinical care, and My Aged Care states that you “won’t contribute to any clinical support costs”. After a fall, illness or hospital stay, ask the assessor about the Restorative Care Pathway: allied health and/or nursing for up to 16 weeks, clinical services fully funded. We compare the two systems in funding allied health at home: NDIS vs Support at Home.
SESI delivers physiotherapy and Support at Home services in homes across Victoria. Whoever you choose, physiotherapists must be registered with the Physiotherapy Board of Australia through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra). The Better Health Channel’s physiotherapist service profile explains what they do.
Frequently asked questions
Is in-home physiotherapy as good as going to a clinic?
For walking, balance, transfers and staying safe at home, a home visit gives the physiotherapist more useful information. They see the real steps, floors and furniture. Clinics suit treatment that needs specialised equipment.
How often should an older person do balance and strength exercises?
The Australian Government recommends that people 65 and over do strengthening on 2 or more days a week and balance and coordination activities on 3 or more days. Your physiotherapist will start lower if needed and build up.
Does Support at Home charge for physiotherapy?
No. Under Support at Home, physiotherapy is clinical care and My Aged Care states you will not contribute to clinical support costs. Contributions apply only to independence and everyday living services such as personal care, cleaning and gardening. Call 1800 200 422 for an assessment.
What is the Restorative Care Pathway?
A short-term pathway inside Support at Home for older people who need to regain function, often after a fall, illness or hospital stay. It provides coordinated allied health and/or nursing for up to 16 weeks, with up to two episodes in 12 months. Clinical services are fully funded. Ask for it at your My Aged Care assessment.
Can the physiotherapist also organise rails and a shower chair?
They can identify what is needed and where it should go, but equipment and home modifications usually need an occupational therapist’s report. Under the NDIS they come from the Capital budget; under Support at Home, from the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme.
Talk to SESI
If you want a physiotherapist to visit an older family member at home in Victoria, under the NDIS or Support at Home, tell us what is going on and we will call you back.
Tell us what’s going on: sesi.com.au/referral · Call: 1800 017 374
This guide is general information based on the Australian Government’s physical activity recommendations for older adults, the Better Health Channel, AIHW falls data, My Aged Care’s Support at Home pages and the NDIS Pricing Arrangements and Price Limits 2026–27, current at September 2026. It is not advice about your individual plan. For your own NDIS plan call the NDIA on 1800 800 110; for aged care call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
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