Understanding allied health

As we get older, we’re more likely to need the services of an allied health professional – but what does that actually mean?

If the term ‘allied health’ isn’t a familiar one to you, you’re not alone. You’ve probably heard of physiotherapy or occupational therapy before, and these fit under the remit of allied health. There are actually around 200,000 allied health professionals in Australia; they make up a quarter of the health workforce.

Allied health professionals are not part of the medical, dental and nursing professions. They’re university educated and specialise in preventing, diagnosing and treating a range of conditions.

What professions does allied health include?

While allied health is a fairly extensive list of professions, these are the ones you’d most commonly come across:

  Dieticians - advise on nutrition and diet to help you improve your health, manage medical conditions, and achieve specific dietary goals.

  Exercise physiologists - design and implement exercise programs to improve your physical fitness, performance, and overall health.

  Occupational therapists - help you improve your ability to perform daily activities and overcome challenges caused by physical, mental, or developmental conditions.

  Physiotherapists - help you recover from injuries, manage pain, and improve your physical mobility and function through targeted exercises, manual therapy, and other techniques.

Other examples of allied health professionals include audiologists, mental health workers, chiropractors, art therapists, podiatrists, psychologists, speech pathologists and optometrists.

Why are we more likely to need the services of an allied health professional as we get older?

Many people use allied health to fix existing issues. However, they can also help those problems from occurring in the first place.

For example, if you’re worried about whether your loved one is safe at home, you could talk to an occupational therapist about doing a home visit. They could set up their homes to make them more liveable. They could help them manage with ramps or check their rugs so they’re not trip hazards.

Your loved one could also see an exercise physiologist to help build up strength and prevent falls from happening. Some physiotherapists have group training programs which have age-appropriate mobility, movement and falls prevention classes.

Whether you’re worried about a loved one after they’ve had a fall, or your concern is more for their mobility and getting around at home, an allied health professional can help.