• We can quantify readiness for return to sport. Many of our return to sport programs require you to achieve 90% strength of your ‘non-injured side’, on your injured limb. These devices can exactly measure total force output, but also the rate which you are generating force. This should also be within 10% of your non-injured limb. 

Quite simply – these assessments can guide our management plan and ensure we are getting the best results in your health and wellness. Whether you have persistent back, neck or shoulder pain – or have sustained a sporting injury, we strongly recommend each of our clients to book a Gap Free AxIT assessment with their initial appointment. Book Online HERE.

Muscle tightness occurs when a muscle is unable to cope with the amount of load going through it. It is a protective response; which prevents a muscle being stretched into a position where it simply cannot tolerate load and therefore is under injury risk.

It is akin to driving a car at 200km/hour without driving skill. Your car can physically achieve these speeds, however if you are not a racing car driver, your mind will stop you from driving the car this fast. It is the same with our muscles! If stretching your hamstring is going to result in injury, your brain will tighten these muscles to prevent the movement from occurring.

Frustratingly, our health care system – including the majority of physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths etc – are trained to treat the symptom of tightness. We spend years learning the latest in joint mobilisation, manipulation and remedial massage techniques – and these have significant value in getting someone out of their pain as quickly as possible. However, we seldom spend the time to treat the underlying weakness issue.

Furthermore, for the everyday person – many people are unaware of the areas of weakness underpinning their tight muscles. Many people are unaware that weakness causes tightness. It is why any reputable physiotherapy office should include a gym space for assessment and rehabilitation.

The AxIT provides your physiotherapist with measurable data which is then incorporated into your physiotherapy assessment. With this additional information, your physiotherapist can quantify areas of weakness and imbalance, and in turn, prescribe appropriate rehabilitation exercises, track your progress, and ensure the best outcomes in your rehabilitation.

Some common examples seen in the clinic include:

• Rachael attended Move Physiotherapy with recurrent right sided back pain; and had been receiving ongoing manual therapy treatment elsewhere. She was fit and active – and a regular in the gym squatting and deadlifting above her body weight. Her technique looked perfect. When her high load squat (5RM) was assessed, she was generating force at 38% greater rates on her injured right side. We were able to use this assessment to reduce her squatting weight to a load where she could maintain even peak force, and rate of force development evenly. We also prescribed her one-sided exercises to strengthen her under-utilised left side.
• Weakness in our glutes and hip abductors – the muscles of our buttocks – is largely correlated with the majority of knee pain and lower back pain. Data suggests that our peak hip abduction (sideways) strength should measure between 25-35% of your body weight. Once this weakness is identified, we can prescribe a hip strengthening program to prevent knee pain or back pain from recurring.
• Shoulder pain is largely correlated with a weakness through our midback and rotator cuff musculature. Weakness through these muscles can often predispose injuries such as rotator cuff tendinopathies, shoulder bursitis and more. We can measure your strength in your ‘uninjured shoulder’ and compare this strength to your injured shoulder to give you a quantifiable strength goal you are aiming to achieve to become pain free again. In the case of two injured shoulders, we can compare these numbers to age related ‘normative values’.