A physiotherapy SOAP note template with example entries for a back-pain outpatient and a neuro patient seen at home.
✓MSK and neuro example entries
✓Treatment parameters in one table
✓Short enough for a busy OPD
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What's inside
S — Subjective
O — Objective
A — Assessment
P — Plan
Therapist Sign-off
Preview · 5 sections
Physiotherapy SOAP Note
Patient
Session date
Physiotherapist
Session number
Setting (clinic / home / ward)
Session length
S — Subjective
Patient report since last sessionInclude who gave the report if a family member or carer spoke for the patient.
Pain Location
Scale Used
Rating Today
Change Since Last Session
Home exercise completion
O — Objective
Observation
Measure
Method / Position
Today
Last Session
Treatment Given
Intervention
Parameters (sets, reps, load, time, settings)
Patient Response
Monitoring and safetyAny monitoring the clinic requires, such as heart rate or blood pressure, and any adverse response.
A — Assessment
Response to treatment and progressYour interpretation against the last session and the goals.
P — Plan
Plan for next session
Home exercise changes
Next appointment and follow-up actions
Therapist Sign-off
Therapist
Designation
Registration
Date
How to fill it in
1
Session details
Date, session number, setting, session length, and who was present.
More guidance
Record the date, the session number in this episode, the setting, the length of the session and who was present, such as a family member or interpreter. Session numbers let a reader match notes to the review points in the treatment plan and to the sessions billed. If the session was shorter than planned, or taken by a different physiotherapist, note it here.
2
S — Subjective
What the patient or family reports since last session, including pain and home exercises.
More guidance
Record what the patient, or the family member with them, reports since the last session: change in pain on the same named scale, sleep, daily activities, response to the last treatment, home exercise completion, and anything new. Short quotations help when they name an activity. New symptoms that could matter medically go here, together with what you did about them.
3
O — Objective
Today's measures with their method, treatment given with parameters, and the patient's response.
More guidance
Record what you observed and measured today, with the method, and the treatment given with its parameters: exercises with sets, repetitions and load; manual therapy with the area and the technique name your clinic uses; electrotherapy with its settings; and the education given. Then record how the patient responded during or straight after treatment. Anyone reading this section should be able to repeat today's session.
4
A — Assessment
Your interpretation of today against the last session and the goals.
More guidance
This is your interpretation as the treating physiotherapist, so the page gives guidance only. Compare today's findings with the last session and with the baseline, link them to the relevant goal, and say whether the response supports continuing, progressing or changing the plan. Keep to what your measurements support. A simple order works: what changed, against which goal, and what that means for the next session.
5
P — Plan
Treatment and home exercise changes, the next appointment, and anything to communicate.
More guidance
Write what happens next: any change to treatment and why, home exercise changes, the next appointment, and anything you need to check or communicate, such as a message to the referring doctor or equipment the family should arrange. Make it specific enough that a colleague could carry it out without asking you.
Physiotherapy SOAP note template and example: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
Session details
Session 5 of 8, clinic, 40 minutes. Son present for the first 10 minutes.
S — Subjective
MSK: R. reports back pain 4 on his 0–10 scale today, down from 6 last session. Sat through a 2-hour meeting with one break. Home exercises on 5 of 7 days. Neuro: Wife reports Mr K. stood up from the bed with her help twice a day this week. One near-fall in the bathroom on Tuesday, no injury.
O — Objective
MSK: Standing forward bend, fingertip to floor 22 cm (last session 30 cm). Bridging 3 × 10; side-lying hip abduction 3 × 12 each side; treadmill walking 10 minutes at his own comfortable pace. Pain unchanged after the session. Neuro: Sit to stand from the bed (52 cm) with stand-by help, 5 repetitions. Walked 12 m with a quad stick and contact guard, one rest.
P — Plan
MSK: Progress to single-leg bridging if pain stays at 4 or below. Add a sitting-break reminder to the home programme. Next session Thursday. Neuro: Review the bathroom with the family at the next visit and discuss a grab rail. Continue sit-to-stand practice with his wife twice a day.
SOAP note or free-text case entry?
SOAP note
Free-text case-file entry
Structure
Four headings in the same order every time
A few lines of running text per visit
Finding a fact later
Quick: measures sit under O and plans under P
Slow: you read every line
Gaps
An empty heading shows what was missed
Missing information goes unnoticed
Writing time
Fast once the habit forms, especially with a template
Fast on the day, slow when you need to write a report
Best for
Every treatment session
Brief contacts such as a phone review, if your clinic allows it
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Write the note the same day, ideally before the next patient; late notes lose their numbers first.
Agree one clinic abbreviation list: 'SLR' is clear to physiotherapists, but 'c/o' and 'NAD' confuse families.
Record exercise and electrotherapy parameters every time, because 'same as before' fails once an earlier note is missing.
When a relative gives the history, name the relation (wife, son, daughter-in-law) so the reader can weigh it.
Note the language used for education and whether the patient showed the exercise back to you.
Avoid
Copying the previous note forward and changing only the date.
'Patient tolerated treatment well' as the entire Assessment.
Treatment without parameters, such as 'exercises given' or 'IFT 10 min', so it cannot be repeated.
Putting interpretation under Objective, or the patient's report under Assessment.
Leaving out a near-fall, a new symptom or an adverse response because the rest of the session went well.
About this session note
A physiotherapy SOAP note records one treatment session in four parts: Subjective (what the patient reports), Objective (what you measured and the treatment given, with parameters), Assessment (your interpretation against the last session and the goals) and Plan (what happens next). This free template includes musculoskeletal and neuro example wording and downloads as a PDF.
After every outpatient, home-care or ward session
When you countersign a student's or intern's note
When a colleague covers your patient next session
As evidence for the next progress report
Read more
The SOAP note is the daily record of physiotherapy, written after every session. An auditor or covering colleague may read it years later, and every progress report and discharge summary is built from it.
Keep it short and specific: what changed, what you measured, the treatment and response, and what comes next. The examples follow two fictional patients, R. (low back pain) and Mr K. (neuro, seen at home).
Questions
How do you write a physiotherapy SOAP note?+
Fill the four sections in order after each session: what the patient reports (S), what you measured and the treatment given with parameters (O), your interpretation (A), and what happens next (P). Use numbers wherever you measured something.
Is there a physical therapy SOAP note example?+
Yes. Each heading in the guide above shows fictional example entries for an MSK outpatient and a neuro patient, initials only. The A heading has guidance but no example, because the interpretation is yours. US daily notes follow the same order and often add billing codes.
How long should a physiotherapy SOAP note be?+
Long enough that a colleague could repeat today's session and know what to do next, often a few lines per heading. Initial assessments and re-assessments are longer and belong in their own documents.
What goes in the Assessment section?+
Your interpretation of today's session: how findings compare with last time and the baseline, which goal they relate to, and whether they support continuing, progressing or changing the plan.
Do I need a SOAP note for a home visit?+
Yes. Home-care notes should also record who was present, the space and surfaces you used, and any hazards you noticed and discussed with the family.
Can students write SOAP notes for me to countersign?+
Yes, if your clinic's policy allows it. The sign-off table has room for the physiotherapist's designation and registration number; add a second row for the supervising physiotherapist.
What is the difference between a SOAP note and a progress report?+
A SOAP note covers one session. A progress report looks across a block of sessions, repeats the baseline measures and gives a status for every goal. Use the physiotherapy progress report template for formal reviews.
