Eliminating chronic pain and repetitive injury involves finding the source of the problem. At BodyLab this involves a two hour (on average) comprehensive assessment. The areas we cover can include any or all of the following:
Your goals from this process are established before we get started.
History is taken of current issues and previous issues.
Structural analysis of the skeleton. We assess if the height of one side of the pelvis is the same height or not. Plus we assess if leg lengths are the same or not. The methodology for this is quite comprehensive and can take 30-40 mins. This particularly picks up imbalances in the frontal plane (sideways plane) of the body.
Postural analysis is next and includes photographs of you (with your permission) standing side on, front on and back on to a hanging plumbline. There is nothing more revealing than to compare your standing joint positions against a purely vertical plumbline. We then take measurements which can include forward head posture, first rib angle, scapulo-spinal distance, thoracic curvature, lumbar curvature, forward angle of the pelvis. Lumbar flexion/extension/side flexion and thoracic extension is also checked. This particularly picks up imbalances in the sagittal plane (forwards/backwards plane) and horizontal plane (rotational plane) of the body.
Range of motion testing then includes the flexibility of all the major joints (upper and lower body). This will reveal muscle tightness in specific areas. For example, it is possible to have a tight hamstring on the right and a tight hip flexor on the left while the other hamstring and hip flexor are within normal limits.
Muscle function includes looking at the natural activation pattern of specific muscles eg. the gluteus maximus (butt), lower abdominals, muscles between the shoulder blades, muscles of the lower back.
Muscular strength is tested with our hand held force gauge. We can target specific muscles and get an objective measurement to compare one side with another and to measure absolute strength. This is very useful as a comparison number for future testing.
Movement patterns are assessed and can include any or all of our human motions eg. squat, lunge, bend, push, pull, twist, and gait (walking, jogging, running). We take video clips of these for later use.
We also have a tool bag of special tests for specific issues and will use the appropriate ones to fit the individual eg. Neural tension.
By the end of the assessment we have a clear picture of the source of the issue. Usually, there is more than one.
The results are then used to design the corrective exercise rehab programme and recommendations are made for any additional treatment that would assist. We make it very clear that the corrective exercise programme is the key to preventing the issue from returning and any passive treatment is secondary to this.
