Physiotherapists and Osteopaths are Quite Similar. Physios & Osteopaths treat a range of similar conditions. There’re a lot of crossovers in what each profession does and how they handle your injury. Arguably, there are more similarities than differences between the two professions. Typically, the main difference between a physio and an osteopath is the osteopath will have a greater focus on hands-on manual therapy. Whilst physios also focus on hands-on manual therapy (aka the ‘physio massage’) we tend to provide more targeted strengthening and mobility exercises too. Osteopaths also can provide these same graded exercise prescriptions; however, they tend to focus more on manual therapy.