Staff shortage in physiotherapy: Figures and ways out

Demand for physiotherapy services is high, yet in many places there are simply not enough qualified staff available. For many practices, the staff shortage in physiotherapy has long been part of everyday life. Anyone advertising a position today often waits months to fill it – and has to organise care with the existing team in the meantime. The Therapy Efficiency Report 2026 brings together current market data and turns to a further question: where can capacity be used better within existing structures?

Staff shortage in physiotherapy: The figures behind the feeling

The report collates current market data in one place. Together, the figures paint a picture of a sector with considerable staffing bottlenecks:

• 85.1 per cent of vacancies in physiotherapy could not be filled on the basis of the calculations for the 2025 annual average (Tiedemann et al., 2026, KOFA Kompakt 3/2026).
• The skills gap over this period amounted to 12,543 positions.
• Set against this are 50,888 licensed practices in Germany (Soldanski & Schlenz, 2025).
• The part-time rate in the sector is over 50 per cent (Schneidemesser, 2026).

These four figures should be viewed together. The sector is predominantly made up of small units: the majority of practices are run as sole proprietorships, with corporations accounting for just under six per cent. An individual practice can therefore only partly absorb staffing bottlenecks by redistributing work internally. Add a high part-time rate and the available treatment time shrinks further – regardless of how high demand is.

For many practice managers, it is above all the available therapist time that becomes the limiting factor.

Therapist time that is tied up invisibly

A central idea in the report takes the form of a simple sample calculation. A typical 20-minute physiotherapy session (Krankengymnastik) does not consist solely of therapeutic decision-making. Time also goes, for example, into recurring tasks such as explaining and demonstrating exercises, supervising repetitions or documenting training data.

The report uses five minutes per patient as an example. With 20 patients a day, that adds up to 100 minutes per therapist. In a practice with four therapists, around six hours and 40 minutes a day would therefore be tied up in these tasks.

This time does not show up as an additional member of staff; instead, it is spread in small units across the entire working day. The decisive question is therefore which recurring tasks require therapeutic expertise and which can sensibly be supported by technology.

What digital exercise therapy can support in the treatment process

The report's approach is this: it is not therapy itself that should be digitalised, but suitable, recurring elements of the training process. The division of tasks might look like this, for example:

• Stays with the therapist: assessment, therapy planning, manual techniques, complex individual cases, interdisciplinary coordination and the decision about when and how a training plan is adjusted.
• The system supports: exercise instruction, immediate feedback during execution, the delivery of stored training plans and the documentation of training parameters.

Suitable patients can carry out defined exercise sequences largely independently under therapeutic supervision. This can take pressure off the therapist during training sections that can be standardised and free up more time for tasks that require their direct professional attention.

How the Pixformance Station addresses this bottleneck

The report comes from Pixformance, and the company describes its own solution in it. The Pixformance Station is a free-standing digital training and therapy unit with over 700 functional exercises and a virtual trainer. An integrated camera captures 25 joint points during training and provides immediate visual and written corrective feedback. Training data is documented automatically in the process. For installation, the report cites around six square metres; according to the manufacturer, entry starts at 220 euros per month on a lease, subject to external approval.

To put this in context, it is worth looking at how different forms of training and supervision differ organisationally:

Criterion	Pixformance Station	Strength equipment without automated feedback	1:1 supervision by a therapist	Home exercise app
Correction during execution	automated visual and written feedback	depends on the equipment and supervision	individual feedback from the therapist	depends on the particular app
Supervision	training with automated exercise instruction and feedback	depends on the form of training and supervision	individual 1:1 supervision	mostly carried out independently
Training documentation	training data is captured automatically	depends on the equipment and practice processes	therapeutic documentation required	depends on the app and data capture
Staff input during training	depends on the patient group and supervision concept	depends on the form of training and the need for supervision	staff committed directly during the appointment	low direct supervision requirement possible
Use as a self-pay service	possible as a supplementary training offering	possible	possible	depends on the service and billing model
Space requirement	around 6 m² per station according to the report	depends on the number and type of machines	treatment room required	no additional training room needed
Individual adjustment for complex findings	within the stored training plan and therapeutic control	depends on the equipment and supervision	individual adjustment possible immediately	depends on the app and supervision model
Training outside the practice	possible via supplementary digital offerings	generally not intended	depends on the agreed home programme	often a central component

At the same time, the table shows the different areas of application. For complex findings and situations where individual assessment and immediate therapeutic decisions are required, personal supervision remains central. Digital exercise therapy can provide particular support where training processes can be standardised sufficiently and patients are increasingly able to carry out defined exercise sequences on their own.

Rehabilitation centres and clinics: Documentation as a second lever

In physiotherapy practices, time is a key factor. In rehabilitation centres and clinics, there is often the additional requirement to document treatment and training progress in a traceable way. This is where the report starts with training data. Movement quality, repetitions and training progress are recorded and made available to view via the online platform.

The automated capture of training data can therefore support progress documentation and internal quality assurance. In this context, the report also points to requirements that can be relevant, for example, in connection with the Blankoverordnung (blanket prescription in German physiotherapy).

For space planning, the report gives specific guide figures:

• With two stations, different training concepts can be implemented in around 12 to 18 square metres.
• From three stations onwards, group classes can be built up as a training concept in their own right.

In clinics, the report sees the potential benefit above all in integration into existing workflows. Patients can complete defined training sessions after manual treatment, for example, or between two therapy blocks. Standardised training sequences can also make it easier to onboard new staff and contribute to more consistent processes within the team.

Conclusion: Using therapist time more deliberately

The staff shortage in physiotherapy cannot be solved by new positions alone – especially not when suitable professionals are simply not available on the labour market. That makes the question of how existing therapist time is used all the more important.

Digital exercise therapy can provide support where training sequences can be standardised: in exercise instruction, in immediate feedback during training and in capturing training data. Assessment, therapy planning and complex therapeutic decisions, by contrast, remain the therapist's job.

The decisive point is therefore not to digitalise as many processes as possible. It is about using technology to support recurring tasks where it makes sense in the specific day-to-day reality of a practice. That can create more time for the tasks where therapeutic expertise and personal supervision really are needed.

If you would like to know which challenges are currently shaping the physiotherapy sector and which approaches the Therapy Efficiency Report describes for practices, rehabilitation centres and clinics, you will find the full analysis here:

Therapy Efficiency Report 2026 (download)