What to Expect at Your First Assessment
Most people who come to FP Brisbane have already been through the standard healthcare pathway. They've had physio, chiro, maybe a sports medicine consultation. They've had imaging, been given exercises, been told what to avoid. And they've arrived here because none of it produced the result they were looking for.
The first thing that's different at FP Brisbane is what the assessment looks at. Not the painful structure in isolation. The whole system in motion. Here is exactly what that looks like from the moment you walk in.
Before the assessment begins
The intake process asks you to describe your presenting complaint, your pain history, your injury history, and your current activity level and training. We read this before you arrive because the history is clinical data, not background noise.
Specifically we are looking at the pattern of your injury history. Which structures have been painful, in what sequence, on which side of the body, and over what timeframe. This pattern almost always tells us something important about the mechanical asymmetry or compensation pattern that the assessment is going to confirm. When someone lists a right ankle sprain, then right knee pain, then left hip pain, then lower back pain over five years, they have just described a compensation pattern travelling up a kinetic chain. We arrive at the assessment already looking for specific things.
Your imaging reports are useful context, not the starting point. A clear MRI tells us the answer is functional rather than structural. A finding on imaging tells us what has been under load, not necessarily why.
The gait assessment
The assessment begins with walking. Not with you lying on a table or performing specific movements on instruction. With you walking naturally, at your own pace, in the way you walk when you're not thinking about it.
This is the most diagnostically rich two minutes of the entire assessment. What we observe in those two minutes frequently explains the presenting complaint more completely than anything that follows, and it is almost always the assessment that has never been done before.
We watch from multiple angles and through multiple phases of the gait cycle. Here is specifically what we are looking at.
Through the push-off phase, we assess hip extension on the trailing leg. How far does the hip extend behind the body before the foot leaves the ground? Is it symmetrical between sides? When extension is restricted, and it is restricted in the large majority of people we assess, we can see the compensation immediately: the lower back extending instead of the hip, the pelvis tilting forward, the arm swing shortening on the ipsilateral side.
Through the stance phase, we assess pelvic control. Does the pelvis stay level when the body's weight is fully on one leg, or does it drop on the opposite side? Lateral pelvic drop in stance is one of the most consistent findings across IT band syndrome, lateral knee pain, hip pain, and lower back pain, and it is visible in every step.
Through the full stride cycle, we assess thoracic counter-rotation and arm swing. Does the thoracic spine rotate against the pelvis as it should? Is the arm swing symmetrical? Asymmetrical arm swing is a reliable indicator of thoracic rotation restriction on the side of the shortened swing, and thoracic restriction is one of the most consistent upstream drivers of upper body pain including neck pain, shoulder dysfunction, and upper back tension.
At the foot, we assess strike position relative to the centre of mass and how the arch behaves through the loading phase. Overstriding, pronation under load, and restricted ankle dorsiflexion are all readable in the gait and all produce consequences that travel up the chain to structures that have no obvious foot-level cause.
By the end of the gait assessment we typically have a clear picture of the primary mechanical drivers of the presenting complaint and a hypothesis about the compensation chain that has been running.
The standing assessment
Following gait we look at how the body organises itself at rest. Pelvic position, spinal alignment, shoulder position, and head carriage are assessed as an integrated picture rather than as isolated postural features.
We are comparing what the standing assessment shows with what the gait assessment showed. Often they are consistent, the same restrictions and compensations that express in gait are also visible in the resting posture. Occasionally there are differences that are clinically informative, a person who can hold a reasonable standing posture with effort but whose gait pattern immediately reveals the compensation.
We are also assessing the relationship between the structural features of the body and the postural pattern. Hip geometry, thoracic shape, and pelvic dimensions all influence what optimal alignment looks like for that individual, and the corrective program has to work with the actual structure, not toward a generic ideal.
Functional movement assessment
Following the gait and standing assessment, we move into loaded functional movement. This is not a standardised screen. It is a targeted assessment of the specific movement patterns that the gait and standing assessment have flagged as potentially dysfunctional.
If the gait assessment showed restricted hip extension on the right, we assess hip extension capacity in loaded positions, looking at whether the restriction is structural or motor pattern-based, and what positions allow the hip to work through its available range.
If the gait assessment showed lateral pelvic drop on the left, we assess glute medius function in loaded single-leg positions, looking at whether the weakness is present in controlled conditions and how it expresses under increasing demand.
If the arm swing assessment suggested thoracic restriction on the left, we assess thoracic rotation capacity in loaded and unloaded positions, looking at the specific direction and range of restriction and what movement patterns are being limited by it.
The functional movement assessment fills in the detail of the picture that the gait assessment has established. We are not looking for new findings at this stage so much as confirming and characterising the findings already made.
The conversation about what we found
Following the assessment, we sit down and explain what we found in specific, concrete terms that connect to your experience of your pain.
This is the part that people most commonly describe as the moment things finally made sense. Not because we are delivering surprising information in most cases, but because we are providing the mechanical explanation for an experience the person has been having for months or years without adequate explanation.
When we tell someone that their left hip is not extending through the push-off phase of gait and that this is loading their lower back on every stride, they often recognise immediately that their lower back pain is consistently on the left side and consistently worse after walking. The mechanical explanation matches their lived experience in a way that no previous assessment has managed to articulate.
We explain the findings in the sequence they matter. The primary driver first. The compensation chain it has produced. The structures that have been bearing the compensatory load and why they are symptomatic. And where relevant, the history of how the pattern developed, often traceable back to an injury or occupational pattern the person had not connected to the current presentation.
What the corrective program looks like
Following the assessment explanation, we outline the corrective program specific to the findings. This is not a generic exercise prescription. It is a sequenced framework that addresses the specific mechanical drivers identified in the assessment, in the order that the body can adapt to them.
The sequence matters as much as the content. We correct the foundational pattern before we load it. We address the gait mechanics before we add training volume. We restore the mobility that the correction requires before we build the strength to use it. Loading a dysfunctional pattern heavier is not correction. It is amplification of the problem.
Most clients at FP Brisbane are seen weekly or fortnightly, with specific corrective work prescribed between sessions. The between-session work is where most of the adaptation happens, because adaptation requires consistent repetition of the correct input, not just exposure to correct movement during the session.
Progress is assessed by reassessing the gait pattern at regular intervals. Not by asking how the pain feels, though that is part of the picture, but by looking at whether the movement pattern has actually changed. Pain reduction without pattern change is symptomatic improvement. Pattern change is resolution.
Who the first assessment is for
The first assessment at FP Brisbane is appropriate for anyone who has chronic or recurring pain that has not been adequately explained or resolved by standard treatment, anyone with a pattern of recurring injury who wants to understand the mechanical pattern producing it, anyone who wants to optimise their movement foundation before building training intensity on top of it, and anyone who has been told to manage their pain rather than resolve it.
You do not need a referral. You do not need to have exhausted every other option first, though many people who come to us have. You need to be willing to have the way you move assessed honestly and to work with what the assessment finds.
Client Result
"I'd been in and out of treatment for three years for lower back pain and a recurring hamstring issue that nobody had connected. The first assessment at FP Brisbane took about ninety minutes and by the end of it I had a clearer picture of what was happening in my body than I'd had in three years of treatment. They connected the hamstring to the hip extension restriction, connected the hip extension restriction to the lower back, and showed me the gait pattern that was driving both. The corrective program that followed addressed all three as one pattern. Five months later both issues have resolved." — Brisbane client
What This Looks Like at Functional Patterns Brisbane
The first assessment at FP Brisbane is ninety minutes. It covers gait analysis, standing assessment, functional movement assessment specific to the findings, a detailed explanation of what we found and how it connects to your presenting complaint, and the design of a corrective program tailored to those findings.
You leave the first assessment with a complete mechanical explanation of your pain and a clear corrective framework to address it. Not a list of exercises to manage it. A framework to resolve it.
If you've been looking for an assessment that actually explains what's happening, this is it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is the first assessment at FP Brisbane?
The first assessment is ninety minutes. This covers gait analysis, standing and postural assessment, targeted functional movement assessment based on the gait findings, a detailed explanation of what we found and how it relates to your presenting complaint, and the design of a corrective program specific to those findings.
Do I need a referral to book an assessment at FP Brisbane?
No referral is required. You can contact us directly to book your initial assessment. If you have imaging reports, a list of previous treatments, or a summary of your injury history, bringing these is useful context though not a requirement.
What should I wear to my first assessment?
Clothing that allows you to move freely and that doesn't obscure the movement of your hips, pelvis, and lower limbs. Shorts or close-fitting pants are ideal. We need to be able to see how you are moving clearly, particularly through the gait assessment. Bring the footwear you typically train and walk in.
What if I've already had extensive treatment and nothing has worked?
This is the most common presentation we see. The assessment at FP Brisbane starts from the movement pattern rather than from the treatment history, so previous treatment that has not produced resolution does not limit what the assessment can find or what the corrective program can achieve. In many cases the explanation for why previous treatment didn't work becomes clear within the first assessment.