Registers: how to check who is treating you
This page lists registers, not practitioners. It names nobody, recommends nobody, and takes nothing from anybody. The reason is that the underlying problem readers have is a verification problem rather than a shortlist problem: in some countries "physiotherapist" is a title protected by statute and using it without registration is an offence, in others it is not protected at all, and the phrase "pelvic health specialist" is protected precisely nowhere. So a search result cannot tell you whether the person offering to assess your pelvic floor completed a postgraduate pathway over several years or a weekend course, and no list compiled by this site could tell you either. A register can. Each entry below says what the body actually is, a statutory regulator, a professional membership body, or a special interest network, because those three things carry very different weight.
How to use this page
Use them in this order. First, confirm the person appears on the statutory register for the country you are being treated in, spelled exactly as they spell their name, and that the entry is current rather than lapsed or restricted. Second, look up any specialism they claim with the body that awarded it, since membership of a special interest network is a genuine signal but is not a qualification and is not the same as registration. Third, ask them directly how much of their caseload is pelvic health, what postgraduate training they hold in it, and whether they perform internal examinations, because a general physiotherapist and a pelvic health physiotherapist are not interchangeable for these symptoms. If a register entry and a website biography disagree, believe the register.
Registers and bodies
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
The statutory regulator for physiotherapists across the UK. "Physiotherapist" and "physical therapist" are protected titles here, so practising under either without current HCPC registration is a criminal offence. The public register is free to search by name or registration number and shows whether an entry is current, lapsed, or subject to conditions.
- Status: statutory regulator, register search is free
- Title protected: yes, physiotherapist and physical therapist
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP)
The UK professional body and trade union for physiotherapy. Membership carries the postnominal MCSP and comes with professional indemnity cover, but it is voluntary and is not a substitute for HCPC registration. Its Physio2u directory lets you search private practitioners by area and by clinical interest, including women's and pelvic health.
- Status: professional body, membership is voluntary
- Postnominal: MCSP
Pelvic, Obstetric and Gynaecological Physiotherapy (POGP)
The CSP professional network for this exact field, formerly the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Women's Health. It publishes patient leaflets on continence, prolapse, pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain and post-prostatectomy rehabilitation, and lists members who work in pelvic health. Membership signals a declared specialist interest; it is not itself a qualification.
- Status: special interest network within the CSP
- Also publishes: free patient information leaflets
APTA Academy of Pelvic Health Physical Therapy
The pelvic health section of the American Physical Therapy Association. It runs the postgraduate education pathway most US pelvic health clinicians come through and maintains a locator for clinicians who have declared pelvic health practice. Note that the locator is a membership listing rather than a licence check, so pair it with the state board.
- Status: professional body, membership listing
- Pair with: your state licensing board
Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT)
Licensure in the US is granted by individual state boards, not federally, so there is no single national register. FSBPT is the federation those boards belong to, and its site is the reliable route to the correct board for the state you are being treated in. Each board then holds the licence verification search that actually confirms a physical therapist is licensed and in good standing.
- Status: federation, licensure is state by state
- Title protected: yes, by state statute in all fifty states
Physiotherapy Board of Australia (via Ahpra)
The national regulator for physiotherapy in Australia, administered through Ahpra. "Physiotherapist" and "physical therapist" are protected titles nationally. The Register of Practitioners is public and free, and shows registration type, any conditions or undertakings, and the practitioner's principal place of practice.
- Status: statutory regulator, national register
- Title protected: yes, nationally
Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA)
The national professional body. Its Choose Physio directory filters by area of practice, including continence and women's health, and flags APA Titled Members, an internal credential awarded after specified postgraduate study and supervised practice. That title is meaningful and worth asking about, but it is conferred by the association rather than by the regulator.
- Status: professional body, membership is voluntary
- Credential to ask about: APA Titled Member
Canadian provincial and territorial colleges
Regulation in Canada is provincial, so the register you need depends on where you are treated: the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario, the College of Health and Care Professionals of British Columbia, the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta, and their counterparts elsewhere. Each holds a public register showing registration status and any practice restrictions. There is no single national register.
- Status: statutory regulators, one per province or territory
- Title protected: yes, under provincial legislation
Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA)
The national professional body, whose Find a Physiotherapist directory covers members across the provinces and can be filtered by area of practice, including pelvic health. It sits alongside the provincial college rather than replacing it: the association tells you what somebody says they do, the college tells you whether they are permitted to do it.
- Status: professional body, membership is voluntary
- Divisions: includes a pelvic health division
CORU
Ireland's multi-profession health and social care regulator. Physiotherapists are registered with its Physiotherapists Registration Board, and "physiotherapist" and "physical therapist" are both protected titles in the State. The public register is searchable by name and shows registration status; CORU hosts it on a separate registration portal, so the address looks different from the rest of the site.
- Status: statutory regulator
- Title protected: yes, physiotherapist and physical therapist
World Physiotherapy
The global federation of national physiotherapy organisations, covering more than a hundred member countries. Its member list is the quickest way to find out who regulates or represents physiotherapy in a country not covered above, which matters if you are treated while living or travelling abroad. It holds no register of individuals itself.
- Status: federation of national organisations
- Use it for: finding the right body in another country
International Continence Society (ICS)
The society that writes the standardisation documents defining the terms used throughout this field, which is why a clinician in Dublin and one in Melbourne mean the same thing by "stress urinary incontinence". Its patient-facing material explains those terms without a product attached. It registers no practitioners, so use it to understand your notes rather than to check who is treating you.
- Status: learned society, no individual register
- Use it for: definitions and patient information
International Urogynecological Association (IUGA)
The urogynaecology counterpart to the ICS, and the publisher of Your Pelvic Floor, a free multilingual library of patient leaflets on prolapse, incontinence, pessaries, pelvic pain and surgery. The leaflets are the most useful plain-language reference available for the conversation that happens when conservative treatment has been tried. Again, no individual register.
- Status: learned society, no individual register
- Patient library: Your Pelvic Floor, translated into many languages
Listing order is not a ranking. This is general information, not a recommendation of any individual provider.