Measurement of Functional Status, Progress, and Outcome at 'Back in Motion

Physical Therapists are routinely challenged to determine whether a patient’s condition has changed following one or a series of treatments. Change can be detected as a decrease in pain on a pain scale, increased range of motion or a patient stating that they are able to do something which they were previously unable to do.

Poor correlation between impairment measures (pain intensity, range of motion, strength, flexibility and neurological findings) and patient’s functional abilities has been documented in the literature. Our patients’ goals are typically to increase their function. Therefore, it makes sense to measure functional outcome in our patients.

At 'Back in Motion’, we use self-reported functional status measures.

The benefits to using functional status measures in ‘Back In Motion’ are:

• Enhanced patient care, by focusing on important functional goals of the patient.
• Improved communication between patient and clinician, as the clinician has clear understanding of the patient’s functional limitations.
• Use of the information for future clinical decision making regarding modification, progression, or discontinuation of treatment.
• Concrete communication with the referral sources and payers regarding current status and the goals/outcomes of the intervention provided.
• Provides the possibility to compare interventions and seek evidence as to the best quality of Physical Therapy intervention.