What is the aim of Exercise Physiology services within the NDIS?

• Support you to achieve your NDIS goals related to:

  • health and well-being

  • daily living skills.

• Achieve your personal goals of health, fitness & quality of life.

• Exercise for physical, mental, emotional and social benefits.

• Increase function, independence and participation (social and economic)

Health-specific outcomes

• Increased knowledge related to general nutrition, safe and effective exercise, healthy habits.

• Meeting of physical activity guideline recommendations and limiting sedentary behaviours for good health.

• Reduced chronic disease risk (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma etc).

• Management of diagnosed chronic diseases.

• Improvement of sleep duration and quality.

• Mental health benefits (increased quality of life, elevated mood, lowered stress and worry).

Physical capacity-specific outcomes

• Improve and limit deterioration of functional capacity (ability to carry out tasks in a variety of everyday situations).

• Neuro-muscular qualities; power, strength, endurance, flexibility and tone (spasticity, contractures).

• Cardio-respiratory fitness, endurance and fatigue resistance.

• Balance, proprioception, coordination, reaction time and reflexes.

• Falls and injury risk reduction.

• Gross-motor skills:

  • Locomotion; walking, running, skipping, hopping, jumping, swimming, cycling.

  • Object manipulation; climbing, catching, throwing, kicking, hitting.

  • Important skills for performance of; activities of daily living and self-care, occupation (education/work/volunteer), leisure and recreational activities.

Cognitive-specific outcomes

• Increased academic engagement and performance.

• Improvement in executive function (mental functions required for goal-directed behaviour i.e. planning, memory, attention, impulse control, problem-solving).

Psycho-social specific outcomes

• Increased interoception awareness - perception of sensations from the internal body.

• Increased confidence and self-esteem.

• Improvement in behavioural and emotional regulation.

• Improvement in sensory processing.

• Mental health benefits (reduced depression, anxiety, PTSD symptom severity).

• Counteracts some of the side effects of some psychotropic medications (reduces cardio-metabolic and falls risks)

• Increased community participation (physical activity at hydro pools, gyms and parks).

• Development of social skills and positive relationships (with Exercise Physiologist, Support Worker, other participants, community)

NDIS Exercise Physiology Services