At Ponsonby Physiotherapy, we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of care we provide our clients.
Over the past year we have enhanced our services by incorporating new technology into our assessment and treatment plans. We are excited to show you how our use of force plate and dynamometer testing is making treatments more targeted and producing fantastic results for our clients.
The Tech:
VALD ForceDecks: Measure the pressure exerted during movement. Allows us to quantify left-versus-right asymmetries, measure the height and speed of a jump, and assess the quality of a landing. We can also evaluate balance and understand why a person may be losing control of their movement.
VALD DynaMo: Measures the force muscles produce through either tension or compression. This allows for an accurate assessment of muscle strength, particularly in the knee, shoulder, and hip. The strength testing can identify imbalances and track rehabilitation progress over time.
We have had great success integrating the ForceDecks and DynaMo into the treatment plans for clients with a variety of injuries. For more info, plus a list of common injuries we are currently treating with this tech, head to our VALD Performance Technology page on our website.
How this Technology can benefit you:
- Early Injury Assessment and Treatment
Many clients come to us with injuries that prevent them from jumping or performing maximum strength tests. For example, a person who has recently had an ACL reconstruction or a knee replacement cannot undergo rigorous testing right away. We apply the technology in these early stages of recovery and measure baseline data from the unaffected side to set a clear goal for what a full recovery looks like. We also use it to improve movement awareness, as people can lose track of what “normal” feels like. The force plates can help them learn how to stand and move evenly after an injury.
- Bridging the Gap between Pain and Performance
Physiotherapists have long used exercise to help clients achieve their goals. These exercises often focus on lower-level movements to help patients recover from injury and regain basic function. This is often where the treatment stops. However, we have recognised that we need to push clients with higher-level exercises if we want them to truly return to full function, sport, and peak performance. With a strong understanding of how to safely load injuries and apply strength and conditioning principles, we are uniquely skilled to not only get our clients pain-free but also to help them finish their rehabilitation with fitness and performance that is as good as, if not better than, before their injury. We have completed extensive training to safely incorporate these principles into programs for injured individuals.
The ForceDecks are an incredible tool for this higher-level training. When a person can jump and land again, they may still feel like they are not at 100%. They might notice a bit of instability, a reluctance to use the injured side, or that they simply cannot jump or run as well as they used to. The ForceDecks can break down these movements to help us determine what is going wrong and how to truly get running and jumping performance up to a peak level.
Why It Makes a Difference in Rehab
We are constantly amazed at how hard our clients work to recover from injury. Our job is to guide them back to doing what they love while giving them the best possible rehabilitation experience. By being able to test and quantify their progress, clients see the results of their hard work, which keeps their motivation high and helps them stay focused on their goals. This technology also allows us to quickly identify when progress is not meeting expectations so we can adjust accordingly. As clients move into jumping and landing training, we can optimise their performance in ways that were previously impossible. This will protect them from future injury and enable them to return to their activity with full confidence.
If you are as excited as we are about this technology have a chat to one of our physios about it and if it would be appropriate for your treatment plan!
