With a population of only 1,500 people, the town of Bingara in NSW has been desperate for another physio practising within their community. With only one physio, wait times have been long for residents. Thankfully, a new physio has joined the ranks. Bingara-born and qualified physio, Leigh Miller originally returned to his hometown from the central west to work on the family farm but decided to pick up physio work a couple mornings a week. Miller has been inundated with work and is now booked out weeks in advance.

“It’s extraordinary, it’s been really easy to find work for me, which is again blowing me away,” Miller told the ABC.

Australian Physiotherapy Association president, Scott Willis said it was crucial for smaller, rural towns to have physios’ residents can access. He also highlighted the fact that physios can treat a range of health issues.

“It’s very important that we do have physiotherapists coming out into a rural, remote and regional areas because they can treat more than just sports injuries, they can also treat any type of chronic disease, disability, workers injuries, motor vehicle accidents”.

“Physiotherapists also work in prevention for diabetes and heart disease, as well as treating your normal back pain and neck pain; people coming in from gardening or on the farm that might have hurt themselves, it really keeps the public and the community moving,” said Willis.

Miller has received a warm welcome from his hometown community, and he hoped his experience would spark an interest in healthcare workers to relocate to regional areas around Australia.

“I think if we can encourage more allied health into the area, not just physio but osteopathy, chiropractic, nursing, speech pathology, podiatry, any of those services, it’s only going to help the area more” he told the ABC.