What should be assessed before beginning an exercise program?

What do I consider the most important part of a clients exercise program? The initial assessment.

What kind of assessment should they go through? 

I prefer to look at how they sit, stand and move. What am I looking for? How the clients is currently using their muscles and the effect this has on their posture and their ability to move.

To test muscle balance you don't need any fancy equipment or measurement devices. Look at the posture of your client. This will give you everything you need to determine which muscles are weak and which are tight. Analyze your client when they don't know you are doing it. If they know that you are analyzing their posture, they will try to fix it. 

First, take a look at your client from the front while they are sitting and then standing.

 

 

     -  Does your client's head tilt to one side? 

     -  Are your client's shoulders level? 

     -  Are your client's hips level? 

     -  Do they stand with their knees straight, knocked kneed or bow legged?

     -  Does your client have flat feet or high arches? How does this affect the

        rest of their posture?

Now from the side:

 

 

 -   Does your client's head jut forward?

 -   Does your client have rounded shoulders or do they seem to be slouched 

   forward?

 -   Does your client seem to have a pelvis that tips forward or backwards,

   causing excessive lower back curvature or a flat lower back?  

- Does the client stand with their knees locked?                 

 

To assess how a client moves, have them get up from a chair. Watch how their knees, hips and back move from the side and the front. 

 

 

     - Do they lead with their shoulders, hips or knees?

     - What does their spine do when they stand up? 

Next have them perform some marching exercises. Look at them from the front and the side.

  

  

    - How high can they lift their knees, and what do the knees do while they

       are lifting them? 

     - What do their shoulders and torso do while they are lifting their knees? 

       (How stable is their torso)

These are a few examples of what to look at when performing an assessment with a client. Each clients history should determine what to look for when performing these test. 

The answers you get to these questions will help determine what is causing any aches and pains that the client has been experiencing.

Before you go about correcting these imbalances go out and identify the postural imbalances. This will lay a base for understanding the concepts to come.