Frequently Asked Questions.

No referral is required to book with any of our practitioners. Physiotherapy, registered massage therapy, chiropractic care, and acupuncture are all self-referral professions in Ontario — you can book directly, without first seeing your family doctor. That said, some extended health insurance plans require a physician referral as a condition of coverage. This is not a requirement to receive treatment at our clinic, but it may affect whether your insurer reimburses you. We recommend checking your benefits booklet before your first visit, or simply calling your insurer to confirm.

A practical starting point: if your primary concern is a movement limitation, injury (acute or chronic), or post-surgical recovery, physiotherapy is typically the best first step. For muscle tension, stress, and tension-related pain or headaches, registered massage therapy is highly effective. Spine, joint, and disc issues — including lower back pain, neck pain, and sacroiliac dysfunction — tend to respond well to chiropractic care. For chronic, systemic, or multi-system concerns like persistent pain, anxiety, insomnia, or hormonal health, acupuncture often provides results where other approaches have plateaued. If you're genuinely unsure, call us — we're happy to spend a few minutes on the phone helping you figure out the best place to start.

For your first visit, please bring: your provincial health card (OHIP), your extended health insurance card (for direct billing), comfortable clothing that allows your practitioner access to the area being treated (shorts and a tank top are ideal for most appointments), and a list of any current medications or supplements. If you have relevant imaging — X-rays, MRI, or ultrasound reports — please bring those as well, or have the reports emailed to us ahead of time. If you've received prior treatment for the same condition elsewhere, any clinical notes or discharge summaries can be helpful context for your practitioner.

Initial appointments are typically 60–75 minutes across all disciplines, to allow time for a thorough health history intake and assessment before treatment begins. Follow-up sessions vary by discipline and your stage of recovery: physiotherapy and chiropractic follow-ups are usually 30–45 minutes; RMT treatments are booked as either 60 or 90-minute sessions; acupuncture follow-ups are typically 60 minutes. Your practitioner will give you a clear sense of expected session frequency and length at the end of your first visit.

Yes. We direct bill to most major extended health insurance providers in Canada, including Manulife, Sun Life, Canada Life, Desjardins, Blue Cross, Green Shield, Chambers of Commerce, Johnston Group, and Cowan. This means we submit your claim at the time of your visit and you pay only the remaining balance (if any). To set up direct billing, simply bring your insurance card to your first visit. If you have two extended health plans (for example, through your employer and your spouse's employer), we can coordinate billing between both to maximize your coverage.

We are registered direct billing providers with Manulife, Sun Life, Canada Life, Desjardins, Blue Cross, Green Shield Canada, Chambers of Commerce Group Insurance, Johnston Group, and Cowan Insurance. If your provider is not listed, we can still see you and provide a detailed itemized receipt for you to submit manually to your insurer. Many smaller or employer-specific plans accept manual claims with a receipt from a registered provider. Contact us if you're unsure — we're happy to look into it with you.

We welcome self-pay patients. Our rates are transparent and communicated in advance — there are no surprises at checkout. Please contact us for current fee schedules for each discipline and session length. For patients managing ongoing conditions who are self-paying, we're happy to discuss what a realistic course of care involves financially so you can plan accordingly. We believe that good care should be as accessible as possible, and we work with patients to find an approach that balances clinical effectiveness with practical reality.

Yes. All services at Apex Physio & Wellness are eligible health expenses for HSA and FSA purposes. We can provide detailed itemized receipts that include your practitioner's name, registration number, service date, and billing codes — everything your plan administrator will need for processing. If your HSA provider has any specific requirements for receipt formatting, let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate. Check with your plan administrator to confirm which disciplines are eligible under your specific HSA plan.

For most adults, physiotherapy is not covered by OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan). There are limited exceptions: OHIP may cover physiotherapy for patients recovering from specific surgeries in certain publicly-funded rehabilitation settings, and for children under 19 in some circumstances. For the vast majority of patients, physiotherapy is covered through extended health benefits from an employer group plan, private insurance, or paid out-of-pocket. The good news is that extended health plans almost universally include physiotherapy coverage — check your benefits booklet for your annual limit.

This depends significantly on the nature of your condition, how long you've had it, your overall health and activity level, and how consistently you engage with any home exercises or recommendations between visits. As a general guide: acute injuries (less than 6 weeks old) often respond in 4–8 sessions; chronic or long-standing conditions may require 10–16+ sessions; post-surgical rehabilitation varies by procedure but typically runs 12–24 sessions over several months. Your practitioner will give you a realistic estimate at the end of your first visit, and will update that estimate as your care progresses. We never recommend more treatment than is clinically justified.

Absolutely — and in many cases, we actively encourage it. Multi-disciplinary care is one of the key advantages of a clinic like ours. A patient recovering from a herniated disc might benefit from chiropractic care to restore spinal mechanics, physiotherapy to rebuild core stability and movement patterns, and massage therapy to manage the muscular tension that develops around a chronic spinal injury. Our practitioners communicate with each other, share relevant clinical observations, and sometimes co-treat complex cases. If you're seeing more than one of our practitioners, let them both know — it helps everyone provide better, more coordinated care.

Loose, comfortable clothing that allows your practitioner easy access to the area being treated is the most practical choice. Shorts and a tank top work well for most physiotherapy and chiropractic appointments. For RMT, you'll be draped during the treatment and only the area being worked on will be uncovered — clothing is removed according to your comfort level and the area being treated. For acupuncture, loose clothing that can be rolled up or moved aside is helpful, though Mei-Ling will instruct you on exactly what she needs access to based on your treatment plan. Athletic wear that stretches easily is always a safe choice for any appointment at our clinic.

Yes — there is free on-site parking available at our Sheppard Ave E location. The parking lot is accessible directly from Sheppard and has dedicated spaces for clinic patients. On busier days (particularly late afternoon on weekdays), the lot can fill up, so we recommend arriving 5–10 minutes before your appointment time if you're driving. Street parking is also available on adjacent residential streets. If you have any accessibility needs related to parking or clinic access, please let us know when you book and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Virtual assessments and follow-up consultations are available for certain services and clinical situations — particularly for physiotherapy and chiropractic care. Virtual sessions are most effective for follow-up visits focused on exercise review, program progression, and management education. Initial assessments typically benefit from in-person attendance so your practitioner can conduct a hands-on physical examination, though telehealth initial assessments can be arranged in exceptional circumstances. If you'd like to discuss whether a virtual appointment is appropriate for your situation, please contact us and we'll advise accordingly.

We ask for a minimum of 24 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule an appointment. This allows us to offer that time to another patient who may be waiting. Cancellations with less than 24 hours' notice, or missed appointments without any notice, may be subject to a cancellation fee. We understand that emergencies happen — if you're dealing with a genuine emergency, please contact us as soon as possible and we'll handle it with discretion. Repeated late cancellations without valid reason may affect our ability to schedule future appointments at preferred times.