The process of physical therapeutic intervention starts with the comprehensive evaluation and assessment that includes the pain history
. Physical therapists need to understand the progress of the pain whether acute/traumatic or gradual/idiopathic. It is also important to know whether the pain gets better or worse with positions or whether specific postures aggravate or alleviate the pain.
Other essential things included in the evaluation are the daily stresses that the patient undergoes as he goes to work, any recreational activities that he might have gone to or other activities that can affect the overall result of physical therapy and also to help therapists to understand the underlying issues that causes pain for the patients. For instance, if the patient is suffering medical conditions like degenerative changes in the disks or spine, the PT needs to understand the nature of the disease in order to understand its course.
In the same example, the PT must help the patient to alleviate the abnormal and extreme pressure on the spine through some postural and body mechanics training and educate the patient regarding the work set-up as well as the therapeutic exercises to address tightness or weakness or both that could be contributing to the damages incurred to specific structures like the joints or disks.
After history taking, usually physical therapy Dallas Texas has will look at the person objectively and this is to physically assess the spine and the flexibility of the arm and the legs. Including in this physical examination would be the strength of the extremities and the postural alignment of the body. There are also other things that are observed such as the gait or walking and any abnormalities that can contribute to the pain are noted.
Range of motion is then tested in all directions either on the head or the back. All of these are noted and evaluated in centers of physical therapy Dallas TX has. All the information gathered will help determine any deficits in the range of motion and the nature of pain involved in the process. The mechanical diagnosis comes up next in the list as the PT finalizes his evaluation on the patients condition.
Finally, developing a treatment plan is done in order to address all issues concerning the physical health of the patient and to carry on with tasks on physical therapy Dallas Texas has.