Importance of Evaluation

The importance of the evaluation.

How important is it for you to be evaluated prior to treatment?

First you need to realize that whatever symptom you would like addressed is just that, a symptom. It is likely the latest cue you body is giving you in a long series of cues that you did not realize were indicators of a real problem.

Your evaluation begins with an extensive history. This history includes questions about your complaint but also about a number of issues you might feel are unrelated. All of the questions are important in establishing a baseline.

Next we have to trace the symptom to its root. This is accomplished by thoroughly assessing your subtle range of motion in a few key joints. The tone and texture of several key trigger points are also assessed. The assessment of these joints and points indicate imbalanced or unhealthy patterns that will lead us to the root or core problem.

Then we have to see how far reaching the unhealthy patterns have developed.

Another key to your treatment and recovery is to determine how long ago the precipitating event took place. The tone and texture of your muscles can provide a estimate as to how long a pattern has been in place.

So first we determine the real issue, not just the symptomatic complaint.
Then we show you what else is imbalanced.
We also have to figure out how long you have been developing these irregular patterns.
An established baseline also helps us determine how much progress we make as treatment begins.

After and only after this can we determine the best course of action to take in your treatment. Evaluation of your issues is an ongoing process and we will continuously work at it. The issues we address tend to be layered so we will find more and more once the superficial issues begin to respond. The way your body responds to the initial treatment is also taken into account in determining your ongoing evaluations and the continuously evolving plan of action.
This plan does not include a time quote. It is impossible to know in advance how well, or how poorly you will respond to treatment. Therefore it is impossible to tell how long it is going to take to get you better. Please keep in mind there are no hard and fast rules here. Allow for some wiggle room.

The points we check to begin your evaluation are common within all point system philosophies. In that they overlap system to system, they tend to be good indicators as to your overall health, mobility and flexibility. The joints we check serve that same purpose. I have found over the course of my practice that subtle limitations to range of motion in a few key joints can serve as indicators to range of motion limitations throughout your body.

The next step is to verify the initial assessment. Through direct palpation of the areas indicated by the initial assessment we not only verify our initial assessment, we also determine how extensive the problem is. At this point we also check gross range of motion in the areas indicated by the initial assessment.

By following this model we can typically determine not only the actual issue that needs to be addressed to alleviate your symptoms, but also how far reaching an issue is, the root cause and synergistic issues that need to be addressed as well.