Run the exercises and daily-living practice that physiotherapists and occupational therapists prescribe. A 2-year diploma, hands-on from day one.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $56,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $37,000 at the lower end to about $76,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$7,300 to $14,900 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$56,000
Lower end
$37,000
Upper end
$76,000
Job Bank's national median is $26.85 an hour, about $56,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower end ($17.62) and upper end ($36.71) are the bottom and top of the wage range for everyone in the group. Alberta's 2023 wage survey puts the average at $29.14 an hour for the wider group of therapy and assessment technical workers.
$24.84 an hour
Average starting wage in Alberta, 2023 Alberta Wage and Salary Survey
That figure covers the wider group of therapy and assessment technical workers in Alberta. Job Bank does not publish a national starting rate.
$34.97 an hour
The Job Bank median in Yukon, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces BC (British Columbia) and Quebec are highest at $30, Ontario is $25.68, and Manitoba is lowest at $21.17. Pay climbs a union grid over several years.
Roughly, all in
$7,300 to $14,900
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Two years of college is the whole qualification, which makes this one of the cheapest health careers to enter. The low end is a lower cost college plus the police check, immunizations and CPR ticket the placement requires. The high end is a pricier program plus uniforms, supplies and a voluntary association membership. There is no licensing exam and no yearly registration fee, but placements are unpaid and that lost income is the real pinch.
No licensing exam, no registration fee. Placements are unpaid, but they are how most people get hired.
Public-sector pension and benefits
Hospital and public long-term care jobs come with a defined-benefit pension, one that pays a set amount every month for life, and full health coverage.
Predictable hours
Most rehab runs on weekdays. Some hospitals add weekend coverage.
Union protection
Hospital assistants are usually in the same union as other support staff.
Employer-paid training
Lifting, transfers and equipment courses are provided on the job.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
One diploma trains you for both physiotherapy and occupational therapy support.
High school
Grade 12
Grade 12 English plus biology. Some programs ask for a math or science credit.
OTA and PTA (occupational therapist assistant and physiotherapist assistant) diploma
2 years
The combined program is a 2-year college diploma offered across Canada. Look for one accredited by the national OTA and PTA accreditation program, which most employers expect.
Placements
Built into the program
Several unpaid placements in hospitals, rehab centres, long-term care and clinics, usually adding up to hundreds of hours.
First job
Weeks to months
No exam or licence. Apply to hospitals, clinics and care homes; placement sites hire a lot of their own students.
Biology
Anatomy is the core of the program.
Physical education or kinesiology
Movement, exercise and how the body recovers.
English
You chart every session for the therapist.
Psychology
Motivating people through pain and slow progress.
No province licenses rehabilitation assistants, except that in Quebec the closest job, physiotherapy technologist, is a regulated title under the OPPQ (Ordre professionnel de la physiothérapie du Québec, the Quebec physiotherapy order). You work under the direction of a registered physiotherapist or occupational therapist, who stays legally responsible for the treatment plan. Assistants do not assess patients or change the plan; they carry it out. Alberta has a voluntary registry through its therapy assistant association, and accredited diplomas are the standard employers use everywhere.
In Quebec the main college route into rehab work is a 3 year program that leads to a regulated title, technologue en physiothérapie (physiotherapy technologist).
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary V physics. It is the one course the program requires.
Physiotherapy Technology DEC (Diploma of College Studies, 144.A1)
3 years
A 3 year CEGEP (public college) program. In English at Dawson, in French at many colleges such as Garneau, Marie-Victorin, Montmorency and Sherbrooke. Dawson asks for a video statement and a police check.
Clinical placements
Years 2 and 3
In years 2 and 3 you treat patients in hospitals and clinics under supervision.
Get your permit from the OPPQ
After graduating
Apply with your diploma to the OPPQ (Ordre professionnel de la physiothérapie du Québec, the Quebec physiotherapy order), pay the fees and the yearly dues, and buy liability insurance.
Show French
A few weeks
Meet the Charter of the French Language conditions, for example a Quebec high school diploma, or get a certificate from the OQLF (Office québécois de la langue française, the French language office).
Unlike rehabilitation assistants elsewhere, Quebec physiotherapy technologists belong to a professional order and use the title T. phys. (technologue en physiothérapie), which replaced T.R.P. (thérapeute en réadaptation physique) in September 2020. They treat patients once a physiotherapist or doctor has assessed them, but do not assess on their own. Inforoute FPT (Quebec's vocational and technical training directory) lists an average of $27.04 an hour, about $56,000 a year at 40 hours a week.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Bridge to physiotherapy or occupational therapy
Many assistants go back for a degree and then the master's needed to become the therapist. The assistant years count for a lot on the application.
Kinesiology degree
Some assistants add a 4-year kinesiology degree to move into exercise-based rehab and private practice.
Specialty courses
Stroke rehab, cardiac rehab, splinting, wheelchair seating.
Team lead or scheduler
Larger rehab units have lead assistant positions.
Fitness or coaching certifications
Show you can teach exercise safely.
A second language
Rehab is slow, patient work, and speaking a patient's language helps.
Comfort with older adults
Most patients are recovering from strokes, falls and joint replacements.
Volunteer hours in a hospital or care home
Helps with competitive admissions and with getting hired.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning: walk a hip replacement patient down the hall with a walker, then run the exercise list the physiotherapist wrote. Help a stroke patient practise dressing and making tea, as the occupational therapist planned. Set up the gym, clean equipment, fit a wheelchair. Afternoon: a group exercise class, then charting each patient's progress so the therapist can adjust the plan. In a private clinic you set up heat and ultrasound and coach exercises between the physio's appointments.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Canadian colleges train occupational therapist assistants and physiotherapist assistants together in one program. Graduates can work on either side, or both on the same day, which is why the combined diploma is the national standard.
The national OTA and PTA (occupational therapist assistant and physiotherapist assistant) accreditation program is run with the Canadian physiotherapy and occupational therapy associations. It reviews college programs against a national standard, so a diploma from an accredited program is recognized in every province.
Job Bank counts about 20,600 people in Canada in 2023 in the group that includes rehabilitation assistants, and sees a moderate risk of a shortage over 2024 to 2033.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Therapy and rehab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in health.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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