Your Next Steps
A Clear Path Forward
Cancer rehabilitation isn’t only for after treatment. It can support and guide people at any stage of their cancer experience. Next Wave Cancer Rehab works with all tumour groups, and with patients beyond adolescent years.
See below for more information about the different stages of cancer rehabilitation.
Support at Every Stage
Preventative Rehabilitation
Getting Ahead of Treatment
Preventative rehabilitation begins early, often soon after diagnosis, helping people prepare for treatment, maintain physical function, and reduce the impact of treatment-related side effects before they become significant.
Prior to surgery
Seeing a physiotherapist before surgery can help support a smoother recovery. A pre-surgical appointment may include:
- Measuring joint range of motion, strength, balance, and physical function to establish a baseline for recovery
- Bioimpedance testing to monitor fluid changes and support early detection of lymphoedema, where appropriate
- Discussing what to expect after surgery and strategies to support recovery in the early stages
- Identifying potential barriers to recovery and addressing them proactively
- Education about possible treatment-related side effects, with early management strategies
- A personalised plan for recovery and ongoing rehabilitation
- Scheduling post-operative follow-up, so support is already in place
Most importantly, patients leave knowing they have an experienced professional in their corner, someone they can reach out to with questions, concerns, or simply for reassurance along the way.
Role of Physical Activity / Prehabilitation
See Physical Activity Guidance on the Services page for more on safe movement during treatment.
Restorative Rehabilitation
Regaining Strength and Function
When cancer treatment, surgery, or illness has affected movement, strength, or independence, restorative rehabilitation focuses on recovery: improving physical function, rebuilding confidence, and supporting a return to the activities that matter most.
Survivorship Rehabilitation
Moving Beyond Treatment and Back Into Life
For many people, completing treatment is expected to be the finish line. In reality, survivorship often brings a new set of challenges: fatigue, reduced strength, pain, stiffness, changes in confidence, and uncertainty about what the body can handle, all of which can continue long after treatment has ended.
Survivorship rehabilitation helps bridge the gap between treatment and the life someone wants to return to. Whether the goal is getting back to work, returning to exercise, keeping up with children or grandchildren, travelling, or simply feeling comfortable in the body again, rehabilitation can help.
Support may include addressing the ongoing effects of cancer and its treatment while rebuilding strength, mobility, fitness, and confidence, alongside the knowledge and strategies to manage health moving forward.
Cancer may be part of your story, but it doesn’t have to define what comes next.
Palliative Rehabilitation
Maintaining Comfort and Quality of Life
Palliative rehabilitation supports people living with advanced or incurable cancer. The goal is to help maximise comfort, maintain independence where possible, manage symptoms, and support continued engagement in the activities that matter most to quality of life.
How It Works
Getting started is simple, and no referral is required.
Your First Appointment
No referral is needed to access physiotherapy at Next Wave Cancer Rehab. Getting in touch by phone, email, or the contact form is enough to arrange a suitable appointment time.
The initial consultation is a 60-minute, in-person appointment designed to understand each person’s unique experience and what matters most to them. This includes discussing diagnosis, treatments received or planned, any side effects, and rehabilitation goals, exploring where someone is now, where they’d like to be, and the best path forward.
To make the most of this time, patients receive a pre-appointment intake form. Where time allows, a member of the oncology team may help complete this, providing valuable information about diagnosis and treatment plan. This supports a personalised rehabilitation pathway from the outset and helps ensure safety throughout care, along with accurate information about possible risk factors.
Sharing a personal story can feel deeply personal, so consultations take place in a private and comfortable environment, giving space to ask questions, raise concerns, and feel genuinely heard.
What to bring:
- Comfortable clothing that allows easy movement
- Hospital exercise booklets, if provided
- Post-operative garments, if relevant
- Scans or reports, if available
- Referral letters, if applicable
This appointment is about providing clarity, reassurance, and a plan. Patients don’t need to have all the answers. Together, the next steps are identified so everyone feels supported and confident moving forward.
Telehealth
Face-to-face appointments on the Sunshine Coast remain the primary way care is delivered, with telehealth available where appropriate.
Experience working across major metropolitan and specialist cancer centres has shown how far people will travel for experienced support, and the particular challenges faced by those in rural and regional communities, where experienced oncology rehabilitation can be difficult to access locally. Telehealth aims to help bridge that gap, supporting more people to access the guidance and support they need, wherever they live.