Data-driven rehabilitation

Force Plate Assessment

At W6 Physiotherapy, we use advanced Force Plate technology by Gait & Motion to provide objective assessment of balance, strength, weight-bearing and movement control.

Force plates measure how much force you produce through the ground during movements such as standing, squatting, stepping, hopping or jumping. This helps identify asymmetries, compensations and movement deficits that may not always be visible during a standard clinical assessment.

Why Is Force Plate Testing Useful?

After injury, surgery or periods of reduced activity, the body often compensates without you realising. Even when pain has improved, deficits in loading, control or stability may still remain.

Force Plate assessment can help us:

• Assess weight distribution between limbs
• Measure balance and postural stability
• Analyse movement control and landing mechanics
• Monitor rehabilitation progress over time
• Support return-to-function and return-to-sport decisions
• Identify deficits relevant to falls prevention and performance

This provides objective data to guide rehabilitation safely and effectively.

Who Can Benefit?

Force Plate testing may be useful for:

• ACL and lower limb rehabilitation
• Post-operative recovery (knee, hip, ankle)
• Tendon rehabilitation
• Running and gait assessment
• Balance and falls-risk assessment
• Strength and performance testing
• Return-to-sport or return-to-function decision making

What to Expect

During your session, we will discuss your injury history, symptoms and goals. You will then perform a series of movements appropriate to your rehabilitation stage, which may include balance tasks, squats, step tasks, single-leg exercises or jump testing.

We explain the findings clearly and use the data to help guide treatment progression or assess readiness for higher level activity.

Where appropriate, reports can also be shared with consultants or insurers.

Goal driven therapy

We complete comprehensive assessments and collect information on injury onset, cause, and area of symptoms, as well as your general health and level of activity. This information helps us create a clear clinical picture of you and your injury.

We also discuss and note your goals, which may include a pain-free walk with your dog or running a marathon.

Once we have assessed you, we can agree on how we can help achieve your goals and set a realistic time frame.

This helps to avoid premature activity progression and re-injury, and it also allows you to plan and have confidence in your care.

We do not guess!

As part of Musculoskeletal assessment, we complete dynamometry testing.

What is a Handheld Dynamometer (HHD)?

HHD is an electronic device used to measure muscle strength. It requires one to exert a maximum isometric force against the device, which is usually held stationary by a therapist or stabilized with a belt or strap.

This assessment method allows for accurately evaluating strength and detecting deficits that could contribute to pain or injury.

Historically, manual muscle testing was used to assess strength, but this method has been proven to be considerably less reliable than HHD.

Should we detect a strength deficit following an assessment, it may be one of the therapy goals. Strength change can be monitored during subsequent therapy sessions.