Physio Beverly: Physiotherapy Assessment

Patients seeking physiotherapy treatment due to pain/injury often are referred by their primary care doctor, giving us the ability to accurately identify their issue and offer solutions with an optimistic approach towards solving it.

At this stage of your assessment, a physio assessment Beverley will ask about the nature and source of your pain/injury as well as what aggravates and relieves it. A medical history will also be taken.

The Consultation

No matter whether you visit your physiotherapist through referral from your physician or independently, the initial session will involve both consultation and assessment. As physiotherapy is a hands-on profession, initial assessments typically include both subjective and physical exams.

Your physical therapist will ask a series of questions regarding your current issue, past history and any medical conditions you have. It is essential that you provide accurate responses as this helps the therapist assess which areas require further examination in a physical exam.

Your physiotherapist will begin by asking about where and what causes your discomfort (on a scale from 1-10). They’ll assess range of movement in the affected area as well as muscle activation and stability levels to provide treatment recommendations.

At the consultation, other information that will be discussed includes how your condition has an impact on day-to-day activities, work experience and leisure pursuits. This provides your therapist with a better understanding of your goals and their feasibility.

A physical therapist will also take your medication into consideration as some can affect how you move or feel. Based on objective and subjective assessments, your therapist can set realistic expectations about how long it may take you to improve as well as establish an achievable treatment plan.

The Assessment

At your physio assessment Beverley, your physio will carefully observe both static and dynamic aspects of your body, from palpate-ing the affected area and its immediate surroundings to testing range of motion and muscle strength as well as performing functional tasks (e.g. standing on one leg). They may even take you through a walking pattern both inside and outdoors and up and down stairs so they can evaluate how stable or unsteady your balance is.

Your physio will also ask about your lifestyle and how your condition has altered it – such as whether or not you require care, which activities are enjoyable to you and how you manage them? It is vital that they understand how your condition has impacted on you personally, in terms of both physical pain and social impact.

Your physiotherapist will then formulate an initial diagnosis. While not definitive, this initial assessment will serve to inform their treatment strategy. They will use information gleaned from subjective and physical exams as well as investigative reports such as x-ray, MRI or CT scan to make their provisional diagnoses.

The Treatment Plan

After gathering an exhaustive medical history and conducting an extensive subjective assessment, physiotherapists will conduct a physical assessment of your injury. This may involve observing your posture, checking movement of the area in question and palpating for pain levels. They may also test movement above and below your injury to rule out other issues contributing to symptoms in that location; Otto/Apley tests for spine mobility may be utilised depending on your case (for instance in thoracic spine mobility issues).

Once your physio assessment Beverley has collected sufficient information about you and your condition, they can begin forming an initial provisional diagnosis which serves as a starting point to set realistic treatment goals together with you in therapy sessions. They can use outcome measures from their assessment session to track any progress over time.

At your consultation appointment, this is an opportunity for you to pose any queries about your injury, the treatment process or what will happen next. Your physiotherapist is more than willing to answer all your queries and take as much time as necessary in explaining everything clearly. They will explain their provisional diagnosis and which treatments may best fit you, before setting short-term goals and working with you towards creating an individualised treatment plan including self-management strategies and abiding targets.