Diagnosis is the most important aspect of musculoskeletal rehab. Without a proper diagnosis, rehabilitation cannot be accurate and complete. For example, low back pain is not a diagnosis. Peripheral sensitization, lumbar canal stenosis, anterolisthesis are all individual diagnoses which need their own individual rehabilitation programs.
In Physiotherapy, we cannot have recipe book exercises – that video of six exercises for low back pain is not a long term permanent tailor-made solution. A comprehensive evaluation and examination by your physiotherapist only can give you an accurate diagnosis. Based on the source of symptom – the cause of the pain – completely changes the rehabilitation protocol. Blindly performing exercises can even be harmful in certain cases – specially when diagnosis is a part of w continuum. For example, in Medial tibial stress syndrome – only muscle involvement needs pain management and specic exercises, but a stress fracture, which will have the exact same symptoms- shin pain on exertion – needs immobilization and will worsen with exercises till the fracture heals.
Protocol based Physiotherapy is required. Your physiotherapist should promote and practice evidence based Physiotherapy, implying that they are in tandem with current global standards of practise for your specic condition.
Every case of a patient being unable to lift their arm is not a frozen shoulder. There is a method to examine and diagnose a true medical frozen shoulder or capsulitis – and many overlapping syndromes such as a muscle tear can have the same symptoms of pain and difculty in lifting the arm.
Hence, get assessed for an accurate diagnosis before jumping in to quick xes or random treatment.
(Dr Dhairav Shah is a Certied Orthopaedic Manual Therapist (C.O.M.T) from Curtin University, Perth, Australia. He completed his Masters of Arts (M.A) in Philosophy from Mumbai University with distinguised grades. He is a PhD Scholar. He is founder and Head Physiotherapist of Asiya Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Clinic with Clinics at Mumbai, Palanpur & Surat. He is a Consulting Musculoskeletal Specialist since the past 13 years)
