HOME > ASSESSMENTS > STRENGTH, MOVEMENT AND BALANCE TESTING
Strength, Movement and Balance Testing
Physiotherapy strength and balance testing is a Physiotherapist’s or Exercise Physiologist’s measured assessment of how much force a person can produce, how quickly they can produce it, how they move through tasks like squatting, lunging, walking and jumping, and how steady they are standing still and on one leg. Each test is run on the left and the right, so differences between sides show up.
The result is a set of numbers the same test can be compared against next time. It comes with a written report that says what was measured, where the strength and power imbalances sit, and what that means for exercise and daily activity. Support Coordinators and GPs use the report to see where a person is starting from and what has changed, and your practitioner uses it to plan what to work on.
Participants, patients and carers
For Support Coordinators, GPs and plan managers
Our Physiotherapists and Exercise Physiologists run strength, movement and balance testing in our clinics across New South Wales and Tasmania, including our Tasmanian clinics at Mornington, Moonah and Dodges Ferry.
Every test is repeated on both sides, so the report can show where one side is doing more of the work.
How do I fund physiotherapy strength and balance testing?
Most people fund testing through the NDIS.
NDIS: participants usually fund it from the Capacity Building part of a plan; our intake team confirms the category in your plan.
Medicare: a GP chronic condition management plan covers up to five allied health services a calendar year. Medicare may pay a rebate toward each session, and we’ll tell you the fee and any gap before you book.
DVA and private health: both accepted.
Privately funded: you’ll get a clear picture of the costs before you book.
If you are not sure which funding applies to you, call us on 1800 678 647 or email hello@opt.net.au. We will sort it out before your first appointment.
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What does strength, movement and
balance testing involves
01
What is a physiotherapy balance test?
A physiotherapy balance test measures how steady a person is when they stand still, and how much that changes when the task gets harder.
Your Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist will ask you to stand quietly on a pair of force plates with your eyes open, then closed. Then you’ll stand on one leg, again with eyes open and then closed.
The plates record how much your body sways during each stand, which is what postural control looks like as a number. Because the plates read the left and the right foot separately, the test also shows whether you lean on one side more than the other.
Standing on one leg with your eyes shut is hard for most people, and the point is a fair measurement rather than a pass or fail.
02
How can muscular strength be tested?
Strength is tested by measuring the force a person pushes or pulls with, rather than by a practitioner’s hand and a grade.
At Optimum Health Solutions we use AxIT force plates and dynamometers during testing.
For a push test, your practitioner holds a dynamometer against the limb and asks you to push into it as hard as you can. For a pull test, the dynamometer is anchored to a fixed point and you pull against a strap or handle.
Protocols cover the shoulder, elbow, wrist, spine, hip, knee and ankle, so the joints tested are the ones that matter for your goals. Each test is repeated a few times with short rests, and it’s done on both sides.
The numbers show how much force you produced and how fast it built.
03
What is a movement assessment?
A movement assessment measures how a person performs whole-body tasks, using the force plates under their feet to record what each leg is doing through the movement.
The tasks in our protocols are the ones daily life is built from: squatting, lunging, walking and running, jumping, hopping, landing, lifting and push-ups.
As you move, the plates record the force through the left and right sides, so a squat that looks even can turn out to be carried mostly by one leg.
That is the kind of strength and power imbalance the testing is designed to find. Your practitioner watches the movement as well as the numbers, because how someone gets through a task is part of the picture.
04
What is the best test to measure muscular strength?
There isn’t one best test, because strength is specific to a joint, a direction and a task.
A shoulder that’s weak in external rotation can be strong in every other direction, and a person who pushes well through the legs can still find a single-leg hop hard.
Your Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist chooses the tests based on what you’ve been referred for and your goals.
The same tests are used again at reassessment, so the comparison is fair. Testing both sides matters more than any single number.
Comparing the left with the right on the same test is the most useful reading in the report, because it points to where the work should go.
05
What is a good score on a balance test?
A good score is one that’s better than your own last one, on the same test, run the same way. We don’t publish age cut-offs or norms on this page, because a balance figure only means something next to the test it came from, and the tests on the market differ.
What the report gives you instead is your own baseline. It records how much you swayed with eyes open and closed, on two feet and on one, how much force each side produced, and where the imbalances between sides sit.
At the next assessment the same tests are run again and the two sets of results are compared, which is how progress is evidenced rather than described.
If a reading is a concern, your practitioner will say so in the appointment.
06
What are the different types of movement assessments?
Movement assessments range from a practitioner watching you walk across a room to a sports screen built to grade athletes on set movements.
They are measured assessments for people whose strength, movement or balance impacts daily life, and it covers strength and power, movement patterns, and balance and postural control.
Tests usually run in one appointment and are delivered by either a Physiotherapist and Exercise Physiologist, and the results feed exercise prescription and the progress reports a funder asks for.
How our Physiotherapists and Exercise Physiologists run the testing
The appointment starts with what you’ve been referred for and what you want to be able to do. From that, your Physiotherapist or Exercise Physiologist will pick the tests, explain each one before you do it, and run it on both sides. You’ll be asked to push, pull, stand still, stand on one leg and, where it’s safe, to squat, jump or hop. Each test has a set position and instruction, so the results can be compared later.
Between appointments, the numbers guide what you work on. Your practitioner will use the imbalances and the weaker readings to prescribe exercise, and the same tests are run again at reassessment so the change is measured rather than guessed at.
For NDIS participants, the results are written into a Physiotherapy Progress and Therapy Recommendations Report, which goes to you and your Support Coordinator for the plan. For Medicare patients, a report goes back to your GP.
Strength, movement and balance testing through the NDIS
Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology assessments are funded from Capacity Building, under Improved Daily Living, which the NDIS describes as funding for assessments, training and therapies that build living skills and independence.
A plan can cover the testing, the exercise that follows and the progress reports a plan review needs. The report gives the NDIA measured results rather than a description, with a baseline the next review can be compared against.
Support Coordinators and plan managers can refer directly through our Referrers Hub, and we’ll confirm the funding line before the first appointment.
NDIS
Referrals
14 clinics across NSW & Tasmania
Email us
hello@opt.net.au
Speak to us
1800 678 647
Get in Touch.
Where we offer Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology
Common questions about physiotherapy strength and balance testing
How to assess balance in physiotherapy?
What are signs of bad balance?
What is the best balance test for elderly people?
How long should a 70 year old be able to balance on one leg?
How to prepare for a balance test?
What does 3 +/ 5 muscle strength mean?
Is muscle testing the same as kinesiology?
Does muscle testing actually work?
What is a movement assessment?
Can I do muscle testing on myself?
Kieran Doyle
APA Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist APAM MACP
MMuscPhysio, GradCertMuscPhysio, MPhty, BAppSc(Ex&SpSc)
OPTIMUM HEALTH SOLUTIONS
With over 18 years of experience across Australia and the United Kingdom, Kieran is an APA Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist, a qualification held by fewer than 1 in 10 physios, with a background spanning private practice, sports medicine, and complex neurological rehabilitation. He reviews all musculoskeletal content for clinical accuracy.
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