What is an injury assessment?

When you sustain an injury, the skilled professionals who help you as you recover need to understand the details of your condition in order to provide the right type of therapeutic techniques.

Sometimes, a doctor has diagnosed your injury and recommended that you see a physical therapist; in other cases, you’ve sought out physical therapy on your own.

Either way, your physical therapist needs to perform an assessment that provides information to determine how to use physical therapy to help relieve your pain and restore mobility and function.

An injury assessment isn’t a diagnosis; it’s an evaluation of how your strength, range-of-motion, flexibility, and other factors have changed as a result of your injury.

What is involved in an injury assessment?

The team at Ultra Comprehensive Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy performs expert injury assessment using several evaluation strategies. During your assessment, your therapist will take a detailed health history and ask you a series of questions about your pain and any additional symptoms.

Your therapist also performs a comprehensive physical evaluation, in which they ask you to walk, bend over, or perform stretches and other movements.

They may take measurements while you hold certain positions, or ask you to use weights, resistance bands, and other accessories to help evaluate your strength and flexibility.

Which conditions can a physical therapist assess?

Your physical therapist uses injury assessment to evaluate the effect of injury on your body. Injury assessment is useful for designing physical therapy protocols for a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions, such as:

• Muscle contracture
• Ligament laxity
• Postural or gait imbalances
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Shoulder injuries
• Ankle and wrist injuries
• Spinal injuries
• Arthritis
• Sports injuries
• Overuse syndromes
• Carpal tunnel

Injury assessment is useful for both acute injuries and chronic conditions. It can also help your provider address non-injury conditions like stress headaches or muscle tension.

What treatments are available for injuries?

The team of professionals at Ultra Comprehensive Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy offers a range of options to alleviate pain, restore range-of-motion, and improve function to help you recover from injury and return to the activities you enjoy.

Some of the therapeutic techniques available at Ultra Comprehensive Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy include:

• Physical therapy
• Massage therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Sports medicine
• Pain management

To schedule an injury assessment with a highly trained therapist at Ultra Comprehensive Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy, call the office, or make an appointment online today.