Therapist FAQs
Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists & Biokineticists, depending on the programme.
What is their scope of practice?
Therapists who have completed the Physiball, Physifit or Physifun Body trainings are not employed or contracted to Physifun.
Therapists will be able to use the Physiball, Physifit & Physifun Body exercise programmes as a tool to use in the practices with children who are receiving 1 to 1 or group therapy.
With respect to school based classes – this is an agreement with the school and the therapist will promote themselves as a physiotherapist or OT able to deliver Physifun exercise classes. Not as Physifun trainer/lecturer, as they are not employed by Physifun or contracted to Physifun. However, as a Physifun trained therapist, you may provide Physifun workshop training to your local schools and communities, using the Physifun materials, provided you let us know the names of the schools you train, so that we can update our website. It is up to you as the trainer, to make sure that the teachers you train sign themselves up to the monthly newsletter via our website. You are entitled to charge for your time to train a school, but this is at your own discretion.
Please contact your insurance providers to make sure that you are covered for any classes you wish to run.
What are the HPCSA’s regulations?
The restrictions and regulations regarding their own promotion of these classes are based on the Ethical rules and regulations from the HPCSA and therapists need to familiarise themselves with the ethical rules regarding associating themselves with businesses, franchises or other such commercial entities. Physifun is not a franchise or a commercial entity and the undertakings of the therapist when running Physifun classes is completely under their own practice banner. It is very much in the same vein as a musculoskeletal physiotherapist offering Pilates classes to members of the public or their patients. If you are unsure, please contact your Society (SASP or OTASA) for further advice.
“The HPCSA holds the view that all health care professionals should at all times act in the best interest of the patient and place the clinical needs of the patient paramount. To this end, a health care professional should always try to avoid potential conflict of interests and maintain professional autonomy, independence and commitment to the appropriate professional and ethical norms.” To this end, therapists using the Physifun exercise programme should see it as another “tool in their toolkit”, as one would if they were running a Pilates class or a Back Rehab class or a Falls Prevention class.
What are Physifun’s T&C’s and information about the Physifun brand/logo:
The Physifun T&Cs no longer apply, as Physifun is no longer a business entity. However, it is still a trademarked brand and therefore, only therapists who have been trained may use the brand and logo. Please feel free to use the logo according to the logo on this website using the same colours and font (Kirsten). There is a generic Phsyifun brochure you can use, but you can also design your own brochure or information leaflet.
What can therapist charge to run the classes at schools or in their practice?
Physifun recommends using either rehab code 72505 or 72308.
Therapists need to decide which code to use according to the amount of children in a class and their hourly rate as a physiotherapist. (This is addressed in Physifun’s Ethics lecture).
Physifun recommends using the 72308 code which is the general group exercises code. In this case a therapist would be running a general Physifun exercise class for up to 10 children with no underlying pathology. If you are not charging through medical aid then there is no limit as to how many children are in your group.
The code 72505, says that specialist equipment and venue is required. This could be interpreted that one would use this code when conducting a group class for children with ADHD or DCD, for example. It would be difficult to have more than 5 or 6 children in a class due to this underlying pathology, therefore, you could justify using the 72505 code.
“72505: Group rehabilitation. Treatment of a patient with disabling pathology in an appropriate facility requiring specific equipment and supervision, without individual attention for the whole treatment session. No charge may be levied for the venue. “
“72308: Group classes. Not more than 10 in a group.”
What are Physifun Cue Cards?
Physifit, Physiball& Physifun Body colour cue cards are photographic representations of the exercises in the Physifun exercise programmes. They have written descriptions on each card of the exercise. They are a useful reference when planning which exercises to use for the exercise classes and helpful for the children as a visual reminder for the exercise they have to complete. ALL therapists who have attended any of the Physifun training workshops may have access to the online digital cue cards of the course you attended (Physiball, Physifit or Physifun Body) and you may make copies of these cue cards for your use in your practices .
What else do you have access to after training has been completed?
The Physiball Movement and Learning digital information contains the following information (shared via Dropbox):
- Physiball Digital Workshop
- Physiball Digital Notes to accompany workshop
- Physiball Exercise Cue cards
- Physiball Exercise manual
- Physiball Exercise Class Structures
- Physiball Community Cue cards (using little or no equipment)
- All Physifun pre participation checklists and teachers’ checklists to identify children who might have movement, postural and handwriting difficulties.
- Assembly Presentation
- Parent talk – getting your child ready for Gr1(Learning through play)
The Physifit Sporty Kids digital information contains the following information:
- Physifit Exercise Cue cards
- Physifit Exercise manual
- Physifit Developing Sporty Kids (Injury Prevention) in Schools Digital Workshop
- Physifit Developing Sporty Kids Injury Prevention in Schools Digital Notes to accompany workshop
- General Parent forum lecture “Developing Sporty Kids”.
- Pre-Participation Evaluation Physical Examination Form- also freely available from AAP website
- A list of references for all articles mentioned in the workshop
NEW* Launching 2019* The Physifun Body Programme – mindful movement designed to refocus the mind and let go of stress in the body:
- Physifun Body Stretch & Mindfulness cue cards
- Physifun Body User Manual
- Physifun Body & Mindfulness in Schools Theory
- Useful Tips to relieve anxiety at home and in the classroom
What can therapists they do with the digital information?
- Present Parent talk using Power Point (PP) (Charges are at your own discretion for your time and costs)
- Present Teacher In service and Physifun Workshop training on Physiball & Physifit (Charges are at your own discretion for your time and costs)
- Assembly Presentation
- Make copies of the cue cards and give them to patients for Home Exercise Programmes
- Use the exercise programmes for your classes
- If a school would like the digital information/cue cards, please share it with them at your own discretion. They may not share with other schools who have not undergone training.
- You can print and use the Print Ready Physifun brochures; or you can design your own brochure, using the Physifun logo.
What is on the Physifun demo’s
- Physiball demo – 30 minute Physiball class watch on You Tube
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b91bo4rsIP0
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVDqi3E0fGc (a short 2 minute clip)
- https://vimeo.com/202727851 (Use the password, “physifun” to access). Watch a video clip taken at Hluhluwe Private School, run by physio, Mariska Senekal.
What is the expected duration of the presentations 30 – 60 minutes
What do therapists charge for these presentations?
This is completely up to the individual therapist and Physifun suggests you be guided by your hourly rate, although this is at your discretion. Parent and teacher talks should not exceed 1 hour and assembly not more than half an hour.
What does Physifun offer to schools and therapists?
Physifun is a concept and is run by Tracy Prowse, the founder, who offers online mentoring and support to all the therapists and teachers who she has trained. As a therapist, it is up to you to provide the teachers you train with regular mentoring and support and also to ensure that the teachers receive the monthly newsletter from Physifun and that the schools’ name is on the Physifun website.
How do you get a school in your area to attend the Physiball or Physifit teacher training?
It is up to you as the local therapist to make contact with your local schools and offer the teacher training and to manage the entire training process yourself. Tracy will provide you with online and telephonic support that you need, if needed.
Being a Physifun trained therapist benefits:
- Therapists will receive an annual newsletter wherein there are tips for teachers, parents, latest research updates and interesting facts. You can pass this on via email to any of your patients.
- Therapists names will appear on the Physifun website along with their email address and the area they practice in
- Therapists will receive any updates made to the cue cards and exercises at least once a year on request.