PMB Benefits & Conditions

There are many conditions that are listed as a prescribed minimum benefit, with possibility of having physiotherapy sessions being funded by your medical aid if there is a determined need for it, assessed by the physiotherapist. 

A referral from your doctor is needed in some cases, which may assist the application in being successful. We are first-line practitioners, which means you do not need a referral to see us, but some medical aids require a referral as part of their funding process.

Examples of PMB conditions:

Relating to infants / prematurity:

• Preterm low birth weight (<1000g - 2500g) with respiratory difficulties 
• Birth trauma 
• Non-traumatic IVH 
• Neurological abnormalities in newborn e.g. leukomalacia, periventricular cysts
• Hypoxic ischaemic encepalopathy (HIE)
• Kernicterus
• Abnormalities in muscle tone

Neurological and Neuro-Muscular Conditions

• Cerebral palsy [added as PMB condition in 2022]
• Guillain Barre
• Stroke, and sequelae, including congenital and moyamoya
• Intra-cranial / intra-ventricular haemorrhage 
• Dystonia
• Sequelae of skull fractures / intracranial injuries / traumatic brain injuries 
• Spinal cord injury and compression, vertebral fractures 
• Congenital malformations
• Meningitis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Demyelinating diseases of the CNS
• Myasthenia Gravis, including congenital type
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Myopathies, including congenital
• Nerve injuries, e.g. Erb's Palsy (Brachial Plexus injury resulting from birth trauma)
• HIV encepalopathy
• Sequelae of TB in the brain, spinal cord, bones or joints

Congenital abnormalities/malformations:

• Following repair or reconstruction [condition specific, e.g. congenital dislocation of hip]
• Talipes calcaneovalgus / calcaneovarus / equinovarus (club foot)
• Metabolic disorders with sequelae [condition specific] 
• Malformations of the brain or spinal cord e.g. spina bifida 

Cardiac

• Post-discharge from cardiac surgery for rehab [condition specific], e.g. Tetralogy of Fallot repair
• Congenital malformations 

Following injury or surgery:

• Major surgery, e.g. laparotomy, thoracotomy
• Traumatic events such as fractures requiring open reduction internal fixation (ORIF)
• Amputation
• Burns >10% of body surface

Haemophilia 

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis