How to standardize our practice as a physiotherapist

From physio to physio

You guys maybe think about learning new skills and techniques, but for me, the best way is improving your basic knowledge and deep diving into some topics that you like or want to know about. It could be based on your clients or your interests. However, this should be based on evidence-based practice, not fancy techniques. Some people feel that our basic knowledge does not work in some clients and want to find shortcuts to treat their clients. If you read until this, I want you to be patient and question your practice and try to do deep research into those conditions. Another key is not expecting your client to feel better in the first session; it’s the long run.

Anyway, I will talk more about those things later, but today I want you to create data that is more reliable than using feelings.

I recommend 2 tools that would help your clinical work be easier. The first one is a handheld dynamometer. This is a great tool that will give you valuable data from clients, as the dynamometer will show muscle strength in numbers, not the feeling from MMT. As a result of using this tool, you will know the progress of your clients and whether your clients’ strength criteria meet the return-to-play goal or not.

The second tool that I found helpful is a questionnaire. It might look quite nerdy, but it will give you information that you can focus on and allow clients to see their progress from rehabilitation. In the questionnaire, mostly you will get data about their problems and pain points. In the end, not only will we see the outcomes, but clients will as well.

To be a better clinician, I think we should stop guessing and work with data more. Even though we are working in a clinic setting, not a university setting that has many tools to track and record data, we can use a dynamometer and other tools instead.

Thanks for reading this! Any questions, just ask me in the comments.

P.S. This is an example of my data, compared between injured and uninjured sides in the hamstring in 3 ranges: outer, middle, and inner range, and also an example of the progress from using a questionnaire and a progression tracker in a patient with shoulder pain.

Thanks to orthotoolkit.com for the great tool.