Will AI Replace Physiotherapists, Chiropractors and Osteopaths?

The NHS is already embracing AI

The NHS isn’t sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what happens with artificial intelligence. In June 2026, NHS England announced that more than 500,000 NHS staff would be given access to Microsoft 365 Copilot. The aim is to reduce administrative workloads and give staff more time to concentrate on patients. NHS England said trials had found AI assistance could save an average of 43 minutes per staff member each day.

There are also plans for AI-assisted triage through the NHS App. The technology can ask patients questions about their symptoms and help direct them towards the most appropriate service, whether that is a GP, pharmacy, A&E, community service or self-care.

It is easy to look at developments like these and think: If AI can assess someone’s symptoms, why do we need a physiotherapist?

That is where things become more complicated.

Is the NHS trying to replace physiotherapists?

At the moment, there is an important distinction to make.

There is no clear evidence that the NHS is planning to replace physiotherapists with AI.

What it is doing is using AI to automate certain parts of healthcare that currently take up clinicians’ time. That includes administrative work, clinical documentation, patient triage and some forms of digital support. The NHS has even introduced AI tools that listen to consultations and produce draft clinical notes. The clinician still reviews and validates the information, but the technology can reduce the amount of time spent typing and completing paperwork.

That may actually benefit physiotherapists rather than replace them!

If a physiotherapist spends less time staring at a computer screen writing notes, they potentially have more time to spend talking to patients, assessing movement and helping them recover. And there is another interesting point. NHS England continues to describe physiotherapists as an important part of musculoskeletal healthcare, with first-contact physiotherapists assessing and diagnosing patients and referring them when specialist treatment is required.

So the current direction appears to be AI assisting healthcare professionals rather than AI replacing them.

What about osteopaths and chiropractors?

The same argument applies to hands-on professions such as osteopathy and chiropractic.

AI can process information remarkably quickly. It could potentially ask questions about someone’s symptoms, analyse their answers and suggest possible explanations or exercises. But an osteopath doesn’t simply work from a checklist of symptoms.

During an appointment, they can take a detailed history, observe how somebody moves, physically assess them and consider their lifestyle, occupation, activities and previous injuries. There is also something rather difficult to put into an algorithm: conversation.

A patient might say that their back hurts, but the important information may come from what they tell you afterwards. Perhaps they have recently started gardening again. Maybe they have been lifting their grandchildren more often. Perhaps they have stopped exercising because they are worried about making the problem worse. Those details can completely change the conversation.

Then there is the question of touch

This is probably one of the biggest reasons why AI is unlikely to completely replace osteopaths and chiropractors any time soon. A computer can analyse information. It cannot currently replace the experience of a practitioner using their hands to assess how someone moves and responds during an examination.

Could robotics eventually change that? Quite possibly.

Technology is advancing rapidly, and there is no reason to assume that today’s limitations will remain forever. But even if a machine could physically perform a treatment, would people actually want that? Healthcare is about more than mechanics. People want to feel listened to. They want their concerns taken seriously. They want somebody to explain what is happening and give them confidence about what they should do next. That human relationship is difficult to reproduce with technology.

AI could actually make healthcare more personal

There is an irony here.

We often think of technology as making healthcare less personal. Yet AI could potentially do the opposite. If artificial intelligence takes care of some of the repetitive administrative work, practitioners could have more time to spend with patients. NHS England has reported that AI note-taking technology increased direct patient interaction time by 23.5% in a large NHS study. That is a fairly significant result. The best use of AI may therefore be to remove some of the less important work surrounding healthcare, rather than remove the healthcare professional themselves.

Should we be worried?

AI will almost certainly change physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy. Some tasks currently performed by humans may eventually be automated. Certain appointments may become partly digital. Patients may increasingly use apps to monitor their symptoms, complete rehabilitation exercises and receive advice between appointments.

That doesn’t necessarily mean practitioners become redundant. In fact, it could mean their role becomes more important. When technology can provide endless information, people may need professionals who can interpret that information and decide what actually matters. The future may therefore belong to practitioners who understand both healthcare and technology.

The future isn’t AI versus healthcare professionals

It is tempting to imagine a future where you walk into a clinic and are greeted by a robot instead of an osteopath, perhaps one day that will happen.

But we are not there yet.

For now, the more realistic future is one where AI works alongside healthcare professionals. It may handle paperwork, analyse information, support rehabilitation and help patients access the right service more quickly. The physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath can then concentrate on the part of their job that technology finds hardest to replicate: being there with the patient.

AI is undoubtedly going to change healthcare. The real question may not be whether AI will replace healthcare professionals. It may be how healthcare professionals choose to use AI to become better at what they already do. And for patients, that could ultimately be a very good thing.