• Aged care physiotherapy across Bentleigh

Aged care physiotherapy and OT at home in Bentleigh

She has fallen three times and told you about one of them.

That is the pattern. The first fall gets mentioned because there was a bruise. The second one gets left out because she does not want a fuss. By the third one she has quietly stopped walking to the shops on Centre Road, stopped going to the RSL on a Friday, and started planning her whole day around not having to stand up more than she has to.

Nobody in the family finds out until somebody visits and looks properly.

  • Physiotherapy
  • Occupational Therapy
  • Home Assessments
  • Assistive Equipment

What we do and where

Total Health Choice provides physiotherapy, occupational therapy, exercise physiology and speech pathology in people’s own homes in Bentleigh 3204 and Bentleigh East 3165. Podiatry and massage therapy are both coming. We also visit McKinnon 3204, Ormond 3204, Moorabbin 3189, Highett 3190, Carnegie 3163 and Murrumbeena 3163, We also go past these suburbs, usually another ten kilometres or so. If yours is not on the list, ring and ask.

We come to the house. Private homes, retirement villages, independent living units and residential aged care homes.

The full list of suburbs and postcodes we visit is here.

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The falls assessment, in the house

Our admin team books the visit and takes the details then, including anything the therapist needs to know about getting in. You get a text confirming the date and time.

The physiotherapist, or the exercise physiologist.

The visit runs about an hour.

We start by getting the real number of falls, which takes a while, because most people underreport. So we ask it sideways. Have you ever ended up on the floor. Have you had to grab something to stop yourself going down. Have you slipped in the shower. Have you stopped doing anything you used to do because you were worried about it. That last question finds more falls than the first one does.

Then, for each one: what she was doing, what time of day, what she was wearing on her feet, and whether she got herself up or had to wait. How long she waited matters more than almost anything else on the page.

Then we measure. Timed Up and Go. Thirty second sit to stand. Four stage balance test. Walking speed over four metres. Grip strength. All documented, so the next set can be compared to this one.

We look at what she actually wears on her feet around the house, which is usually not the pair she shows visitors.

The occupational therapist.

The OT walks through the house with her. Front step, path, letterbox. Hall lighting and where the switches are. Rugs and cords. The bathroom, and how she gets in and out of the shower and up off the toilet. Bed height. What she reaches above her head for in the kitchen. And the path from the bed to the toilet at two in the morning in the dark, which is the trip that ends most people’s independence.

What changes after that

A home exercise program built around what the client can tolerate. Seated or standing exercises, near a benchtop or a chair for support, ideally five to ten minutes a few times a week, printed with photographs.

An occupational therapy visit if the house needs changing. Rails, a shower stool, raising the bed, an over toilet frame, better lighting on the night path. The OT measures and tells you the cost before anything is ordered.

The same therapist every visit.

And a monthly progress report to the family with the outcome measures in it. Same tests, repeated. You will see whether her sit to stand went from seven to twelve, or whether it did not move. The report goes out to the care team involved.

Explore Physiotherapy

How it gets paid for

Support at Home, the program that replaced Home Care Packages. Allied health sits inside it. Ask her provider to call us or we can contact them.

Commonwealth Home Support Programme, for smaller amounts of help before a full package.

Private, no referral, we can start this week.

TAC, if a car accident caused it.

Not sure which one she is on? Ring and say so. Half our calls start there.

Why Bentleigh families call us

We ring back within thirty minutes on business days. Nobody else in this market puts a number on it.

Fifty of us, mobile since 2011, so cover is real when your regular therapist is away.

4.9 from over 200 Google reviews.

Most first visits happen within five business days. We will give you a real date on the phone rather than “we’ll be in touch”.

Every therapist who comes to the house holds a current police check and NDIS worker screening clearance. And you get the same therapist each visit, so it is not a different stranger at the door every fortnight.

Explore Occupational Therapy
  • Helpful information

Questions Bentleigh families ask

Do not open with falls. Open with strength. “Someone’s coming to help you get stronger so you can keep doing the garden” lands very differently to “someone’s coming because you keep falling”. Be there for the first visit if you can. Tell us on the phone that she is reluctant and the therapist will run the visit that way.

No. Common, but not normal, and it is the strongest single predictor of the next one. Three falls in six months is past the point at which most people should have a proper assessment rather than waiting for the one that breaks something.

Yes. Bentleigh 3204 and Bentleigh East 3165, plus McKinnon, Ormond, Moorabbin, Highett, Carnegie and Murrumbeena.

Yes. Allied health sits inside Support at Home. Give her Support at Home Provider our number and we will sort the paperwork out with them rather than with you.

We will tell you an honest range after the first assessment, and we will tell you when to stop. Ongoing forever is not a plan.

That is the occupational therapist, and it is usually the second visit. Rails, shower stool, bed height, lighting, the night path to the toilet.

Tell us straight away. We reassess rather than carrying on with the same program, because something in the picture has changed.

Yes, and independent living units, and residential aged care homes.


  • Talk to our team

Talk to us about Bentleigh

Call 1800 847 847, or submit an enquiry and we will call back within thirty minutes on a business day.

On an NDIS plan instead? Our Bentleigh NDIS physiotherapy and occupational therapy page is the one you want.

Contact Us Make a Referral