Preparing for your first rehabilitation appointment after a work injury

What to bring

• Claim number, insurer name, and your case manager's name and phone number.
• Your current certificate of capacity, and any earlier ones you still have.
• Referral or approval letters, treatment request forms, and any session limits you have been told about.
• Imaging reports, specialist letters and a current medicine list.
• A short written description of your job: tasks, hours, shifts, lifting, driving, screen time.
• Photo ID and, if relevant, an interpreter booking or a support person.

What usually happens in the session

Expect questions about how the injury happened, what hurts and when, what you can and cannot do now, and what your job involves. Expect a physical or functional assessment appropriate to the injury, and a discussion about goals — often including work goals, because Australian schemes generally support recovery at or near work on suitable duties rather than waiting for full recovery.

You should leave with a plan: what treatment is proposed, how many sessions before a review, what you will do between appointments, and what happens next with the insurer.

Who will see what

This is the part most workers are not told clearly. On a workers compensation claim, the provider generally reports progress and capacity to the insurer, and communicates duty-relevant information — what you can safely do — to the employer or return-to-work coordinator.

That normally does not mean your employer receives your full clinical notes. If you are unsure, ask directly: what goes to the insurer, what goes to my employer, and what stays between us. Ask before you disclose something you would rather keep clinical.

• Ask what a typical report to the insurer contains.
• Ask what the employer is told about duties and restrictions.
• Ask how to raise a concern about something written in a report.

Questions worth asking before you leave

• What are we aiming for in the next four weeks, and how will we know it is working?
• How many sessions are approved now, and what happens when they run out?
• Will there be any cost to me, and if so how much and when?
• What should I do at home, and what should I stop doing?
• What would make you change the plan, or refer me on?
• Who do I call if pain increases, or if I cannot attend?
• How will my duties at work change as I improve, and who decides that?

A hypothetical first appointment

A hypothetical warehouse worker attends physiotherapy nine days after a back injury. They bring a claim number, a current certificate and a one-page list of their normal tasks. The session produces a four-week plan, two suitable duties suggestions to discuss with the employer, and a scheduled review before the approved sessions run out. Nothing about this example predicts a funding decision or a recovery timeframe; it simply shows preparation shortening the administrative part of the visit.

If something does not feel right

You can ask for the plan in writing, ask for a second opinion through the usual scheme process, or raise a concern with your treating practitioner or case manager. Each scheme also publishes its own help and dispute pathways, which differ by jurisdiction — see our guide on delayed referrals and treatment requests for where those pathways are published.