Telehealth

Telehealth FAQ's

WHAT IS TELEHEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPY?

Telehealth Physiotherapy is a Virtual Visit with your Therapist in the comfort of your own home or workplace.  We connect using a telephone, mobile device, or online with a laptop/desktop.  

WHAT DOES A TELEHEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPY SESSION INVOLVE?

At your first visit, one of our Physiotherapists will meet with you for 45 minutes to an hour. We listen to your story - What have you been struggling with? How do you get there? How is your condition impacting your life, your movement, your function? From here, we take a whole-body approach to the assessment and treatment of your condition.  A Telehealth Session is truly guided by what you need as a patient.  Physiotherapists use a range of tools in their "toolkit" to create an individualized program for you.

  • We assess or reassess your injury/condition
  • We look at your range of motion, movements, strength and function
  • We give individualized exercises and stretches and you recieve online photo/video program
  • We can help correct your postural faults, improve exercise form, and give useful cues to decrease pain
  • We can demonstrate soft tissue massage, mobilization, and fascial release techniques
  • We provide many strategies to help decrease pain and improve sleep, and relaxation
  • We educate you on your injury/condition to empower you to manage your health
  • We can provide trainig so another person can assist you with exercises or stretches
  • We can advise on exercise equipment, bracing, taping 
  • We can look at falls prevention/ strengthening programs/ and prescribe adaptive aids and braces

DO MY BENEFITS COVER TELEHEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPY?

Yes! Telehealth Physiotherapy sessions are covered by many Extended Healthcare Benefit providers.  Skye Health is a Sunlife Gold Preferred clinic and proudly Sunlife one of the first insurance companies to mandate these changes to quickly offload the healthcare system while supporting their clients during the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Canada Life/Great West Life, Manulife, Sunlife, WSIB and some auto insurers are currently funding Telehealth services. You are advised to check with your provider to ensure telehealth is funded with your benefits.

WHAT ABOUT WSIB AND MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE?

Yes!  WSIB is now covering Telehealth Physiotherapy and many Motor Vehicle Insurance Companies are approving sessions.   The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused a fundamental shift in the delivery of healthcare services and providers are moving quickly to allow Telehealth treatment for their clients. Please check with your Auto Insurance provider as policies are different across companies.

WHAT CONDITIONS CAN YOU TREAT WITH TELEHEALTH PHYSIOTHERAPY?

We can treat many conditions that we would see in clinic virtually via Telehealth. We offer a free 15 minute consultation if you would like to discuss whether Telehealth is appropriate for you.  Some examples are:

  • soft tissue, joint, or spine pain or injury
  • sport injuries
  • concussion
  • post-surgical rehab
  • pre-hab (prior to surgery)
  • Arthritis
  • osteoporosis
  • Rehab Pilates programming
  • post-cancer care for conditioning, musculoskeletal rehab
  • repetitive strain injuries
  • tendonitis - shoulder, elbow, achilles, plantar fasciitis
  • the list goes on ...

There are times where your Therapist may deem that you require an in-person consultation, or that you need to be referred for further investigation.  Your Telehealth session would be stopped and referral for an in-person session or for further investigation will be provided.  Your therapy session will not be billed if the Therapists deems it is not appropriate.