New Zealand's ACC officials have been asked to support the voluntary work physios do for sports teams across the country as the workforce faces understaffing and is on the brink of burnout.

Physios will usually provide their services for free to support athletes competing at various levels of their sporting codes, but the lack of funding means they're often overworked throughout the week.

NZ Physiotherapy president Kirsten Davies said the workers have nothing left in the tank.

"Like all health providers working very hard during the working week, to be committed to sports teams and all that mainly through voluntary [work] is challenging."

She said it's an "across-the-board" issue affecting all sporting codes and spoke about the importance of players getting immediate treatment when they injure themselves during a game.

Physios will connect with players to build a sound management plan to get them back onto the field within an appropriate amount of time, handling the process from the initial injury right through to the rehabilitation stage.

"That's what sports physiotherapists have as a specialty area," said Davies.

"But it's difficult when they're not there right at the beginning not able to give that clinical advice right there on the sports field."

Davies said the compensation agency had a huge part to play in the process.

"They do fund sports injuries, but not until the injury is registered and as a physiotherapist on the sideline with an acute injury during the sports game, the paperwork hasn't been done to get that funding at the front end," she said.

"So the funding stream isn't there in those initial stages.

"If ACC were willing to fund that early phase, the initial acute management prior to the paperwork being completed, that would be very helpful," said Davies.

"However there does need to be the injury for that funding to come downstream, so being on the sideline - ideally what you're there for is to help prevent injury, so there isn't any money in the pot for that injury prevention.”

The next steps were for NZ Physiotherapy, Davies said, would be to lobby for better support for its workers and the union was in open dialogue with ACC.

She said another focus was conversations with sports clubs, whether some would be willing to pay physios who work alongside their teams - given they head to practices and support them on match days.

"Then that becomes part of the physio's working week and they might work Tuesday to Saturday, or later in the day instead of a full work week and then attend evening practices and weekend work."