AHPRA-Aware Marketing
Few questions cause physiotherapy practice owners more quiet worry than reviews. You know Google reviews matter for being found. You also know AHPRA has strict rules about testimonials. So you end up stuck: unsure whether asking for a review is allowed, whether a glowing five-star comment about someone’s recovery is a problem, and whether you are quietly breaching the National Law every time a happy patient writes something kind. The confusion is understandable, and it is mostly resolvable with one clear distinction.
Physiotherapists can have Google reviews and can encourage patients to leave honest feedback, but cannot use testimonials about clinical care to advertise the practice. A review sitting on your Google profile is generally fine. The breach happens when you take a review about treatment or outcomes and repurpose it into your own marketing. The location and the use, not the existence of the review, are what matter.
This is worth getting right because the cost of getting it wrong runs in both directions. Practices that misread the rule as “no reviews at all” strip themselves of one of the strongest local-search and trust signals available, and hand the advantage to competitors. Practices that ignore the rule and plaster outcome-based testimonials across their homepage expose themselves to complaints and, for a registered practitioner, action on their registration. The safe path sits clearly between those two mistakes, and most practices are making one of them.
What the National Law actually prohibits
Section 133 of the National Law prohibits using testimonials in advertising a regulated health service. AHPRA defines a testimonial as a statement about the clinical aspects of care: the outcome of treatment, the effectiveness of a service, or the skill of the practitioner. The prohibition is specific to advertising, and specific to clinical content. It is not a ban on patients having opinions, and it is not a ban on the word “review”.
So a comment like “my back pain disappeared after two sessions” is a clinical testimonial. You cannot use it to advertise. A comment like “the team is friendly, parking is easy and I never wait long” is about the experience of dealing with the practice, not about clinical care, and it is not caught by the prohibition. The dividing line runs between the result of treatment and everything surrounding the treatment.
The test: does the statement assess the clinical care, the outcome, effectiveness, or the practitioner’s skill? If yes, you cannot use it in your advertising. If it only describes the non-clinical experience, you can.
Reviews you do not control
The part that genuinely reassures most owners is AHPRA’s position on reviews you do not control. A patient who independently writes a review on your Google Business Profile, or on a third-party platform, is not something you are required to police. AHPRA is explicit that advertisers are not responsible for removing testimonials published on platforms they do not control, or on sites that are not advertising a regulated health service. An unsolicited Google review that mentions a clinical outcome is not, in itself, your breach.
What changes the picture is use. The moment you take that review and make it part of your advertising, screenshot it onto your homepage, pin it to the top of your feed, quote it in an ad, feature it in a brochure, you are now using a clinical testimonial to advertise, and you are responsible for it. The review did not change. Your use of it did. This is the single most common way well-meaning practices cross the line, usually because the review was so nice it felt wasteful not to share it.
The review on your Google profile is usually fine. The screenshot of it on your homepage usually is not.
Can you ask for reviews?
You can invite patients to leave honest feedback, and doing so is normal and acceptable. What you cannot do is steer the content towards clinical praise, script what they say, or offer an inducement in exchange for a review. The safest approach is a neutral, low-key invitation: let patients know that feedback is welcome and easy to leave, and leave the content entirely to them. The aim is genuine, unprompted opinion, not a manufactured testimonial wearing a review’s clothing.
Avoid anything that reads as engineering the outcome. Do not offer a discount or a prize draw for leaving a review. Do not hand patients a suggested wording. Do not ask only your happiest patients on their happiest day, which shades into curating. A simple, evenly offered “if you found today useful, an honest review helps others find us” is a world away from a campaign designed to harvest five-star clinical claims, and only one of those is safe.
What to do, and stop doing
Start by auditing your own marketing for repurposed reviews. If you have screenshotted patient praise onto your website, pinned an outcome story to your social profiles, or built a “testimonials” page, that is the highest-risk thing most practices are doing, and unwinding it is straightforward. Take the clinical testimonials out of your advertising and leave the reviews where patients posted them.
Then keep doing the safe, valuable things. Maintain your Google Business Profile, make it easy for patients to leave honest feedback, and let the reviews accumulate naturally on the platforms you do not control. That is exactly what helps your local-search prominence, and it is fully compliant, which is the combination you want. The AHPRA testimonial guidance walks through the specific scenarios if you want to check an edge case.
The reframe that resolves the anxiety is simple. Stop thinking of reviews as something to collect and display, and start thinking of them as something patients give and you leave alone. Encourage honesty, never script or repurpose, and the rule stops being a trap and becomes what it was meant to be: a line that keeps health advertising truthful. For the wider picture of what your practice can and can’t say, see our cornerstone guide to AHPRA marketing in plain English, and for why reviews matter to being found at all, Google Business Profile for physios.
Common questions about physio reviews and AHPRA
Can physiotherapists ask patients for Google reviews?
Yes, you can invite patients to leave honest feedback, as long as you do not script the content, steer it towards clinical praise, or offer an inducement in exchange. Keep the invitation neutral and let the patient decide what to say. The goal is genuine, unprompted opinion rather than a manufactured testimonial.
Do I have to remove a Google review that mentions my treatment?
No. AHPRA states that advertisers are not responsible for removing testimonials on platforms they do not control. An unsolicited review that mentions a clinical outcome is not your breach. The issue only arises if you repurpose that review into your own advertising, such as featuring it on your website.
Can I put patient reviews on my website?
Not if they are testimonials about clinical care, outcomes or the practitioner’s skill. Using those in advertising you control, including your website, breaches the National Law. Comments purely about the non-clinical experience, such as friendly staff or easy booking, are not testimonials and may be used.
Can I offer a discount for leaving a review?
No. Offering an inducement in exchange for a review is not acceptable, and it also undermines the honesty the rules are designed to protect. Invite feedback without any reward attached, and let patients choose freely whether and what to write.
This article is general commentary for practice owners and is not legal, clinical or regulatory advice. The National Law and AHPRA guidance change over time and apply to your specific circumstances. Check the current advertising guidelines, and seek your own advice, before relying on anything here.