The first step in recovering from several painful and incapacitating
conditions is a physiotherapy assessment.  One can sit back and let the
physiotherapist do all the work.  However, more accurate and positive
results will come of the physiotherapy assessment if the patient becomes
involved.

When you go in to the physiotherapy appointment, your doctor should have
given the physiotherapist some idea of your condition.  The
physiotherapy assessment will begin when the therapist takes a medical
history.  This is standard procedure for any type of health related
problem.  It is wise to be thorough in explaining past problems and
conditions that seem to run in the family.

This can have a bearing on your treatment.  It might even point to
some disease or disorder that no one suspected that you had.  A
thorough physiotherapy assessment could possibly lead to treatment by a
physician for an unexpected illness.  You might find out that, while
physiotherapy is bad for very few people, it is not what you need the most.

Then, the therapist will ask questions about your present condition.
She will want to know when the pain, stiffness, or other problems started.
She will ask you just how much it hurts, having you grade your pain on a
scale of one to ten.  One means no pain and ten means the worst pain
you can imagine.  The physiotherapy assessment will go on with your
hypotheses of what caused it all.

The accuracy of your physiotherapy assessment rests on the precision with
which you answer these questions.  Telling the therapist that the pain
is at a level of four when you know it is more like a level of eight will
lead her to treat your pain less aggressively.  It will be as if you
had no physiotherapy assessment at all.

However, if you are able to correctly measure your degree of pain, you
will help the therapist understand your problem.  When the therapist
knows when the problem began and has an idea of what caused it, the
physiotherapy assessment will reflect that information.

Then, the therapist will watch you move.  For a person who does not
wish to be seen as weak, it may be a challenge to walk and do other
movements as the person does them when no one is watching.  In other
words, a person with a sore and stiff neck may try to move it normally in
order not to seem like an invalid.

You will be put through a series of movements that may seem cruel to you.
It is a part of a good physiotherapy assessment to show all the movements
done as best you can do them.  If you can barely do them, that tells
your physiotherapist a great deal of information.

It is best that the physiotherapy assessment covers all these pains and
conditions.  The way to make the most of a physiotherapy assessment is
to be as honest and accurate as possible.  It is only then that you
will get the best care.