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This paper discusses how physiotherapists might respond to the challenges of health care reform taking place in New Zealand.

We begin by outlining the health policy initiatives that are challenging our understanding of physiotherapy practice. We then outline a socio-political history of physiotherapy, using the ‘body-as-machine’as a metaphor. We then present four possible responses to New Zealand health reforms: watching and waiting, enhancing the body-as-machine, rejecting the body-as-machine and integration. These are then analyzed for their various advantages and disadvantages.