A physiotherapist is someone who is trained to diagnose and treat conditions of the muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments. They undergo extensive training to become a registered physiotherapist and are fully regulated by the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario. Because a physiotherapist is a highly trained professional they are blind when it comes to patient gender. They do not care if you are a male or female. However, you might care. For many patients, having someone work on a “sensitive” area such as a groin injury or a bruised tailbone, might cause embarrassment. Rest assured that an experienced physiotherapist has seen many patients with these conditions and when they are examining or treating these areas they do not see a male or a female. They simply see a groin or a tailbone that requires treatment. A registered physiotherapist will act in a professional manner and will treat the condition appropriately. However, a relaxed patient will respond better to physiotherapy treatments. So if you are a female and have any anxiety because you are being treated by a male physiotherapist, you may respond to that anxiety by tightening up during the treatments. This isn’t the ideal situation and your recovery may be delayed because of that anxiety. The similar situation sometimes exists when a male patient is being treated by a female physiotherapist, but because males generally have less anxiety with regard to their body image this situation usually isn’t a problem. The solution is very simple. If you are a female who is in need of physiotherapy treatments you must seek out a female physiotherapist for your treatments. Many clinics have multiple physiotherapists and you might be treated by a different one on each visit. This is not good for several reasons. Firstly, staying with one physiotherapist ensures that the treatments will be consistent and changes in your condition will be monitored and treatment will be changed based on those changes to a better degree than if different therapists work on you each time. Secondly, if you always are treated by the same physiotherapist you will grow more comfortable with that therapist and you will relax more during the treatments. A relaxed patient will respond better to the therapy. If you are a female who requires physiotherapy treatments, and you want to be treated by a female physiotherapist, call the clinic and ask for a female physiotherapist. Then you must ensure that you will only be treated by that one female physiotherapist only. One clinic that does have an excellent female physiotherapist is Dr. Allan Horowitz & Associates, in Richmond Hill. The clinic has been in operation since 1982 and has a stellar reputation. There are many chiropractors (Dr. Horowitz, Dr. Chow, Dr. Ho, and Dr. Kaw) and there is one physiotherapist, a female, and her name is Michelle Chen.