What Happens In A Physiotherapy Assessment?
Some people are scared to come to physiotherapy as they do not know what to expect – this is made even worse at the hospital, because we get people out of bed and moving!
So, what will happen when you come to the clinic? This is very straightforward – we will ask you to fill in a form to provide us with some basic personal information, this will be followed by a face-to-face consultation. All information disclosed during the consultation is confidential and you may bring a friend or family member to the appointment, should you wish.
What Should I Expect During A Physiotherapy Assessment?
The physiotherapist will ask questions regarding the history of your physical complaint, the background to it, as well as what aggravates and eases the pain – it will help speed up the process if you have thought about this before the appointment. They may also ask questions regarding your occupation, general routine and lifestyle, sleep patterns and how the pain impacts your life and hobbies – this information helps to give us a better picture of the problem and help to get you back to normality as soon as possible.
It is important to provide us with as much information as possible during the consultation, this includes any other medical conditions and any medication you may be taking, as this could have an influence on your musculoskeletal condition.
Following the initial consultation, your physiotherapist will examine you – depending on where the issue is on the body, it may be necessary to remove some clothing in order to carry out the examination effectively – we always endeavour to protect and respect the modesty and dignity of our patients at all times. During the physical examination, we test movement, strength, joints, and check for signs of nerve pain. We will only do enough to give us an idea of what is going on, if at any point you experience too much pain to continue, we will stop.
We may try different physiotherapy techniques to see if your movement improves. If it does, we will continue with that treatment – your physical response will determine which treatments we use.
At the end of the 45 minutes, you will be given a diagnosis with an explanation and a plan of how you can help yourself at home. It may be necessary for you to return for other treatments, but we will keep the number of sessions down as much as we can. And as always, you can ask us about your treatment at any stage.
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