Assessing muscle strength and range of motion is a critical component of physical therapy and overall body health. The muscle strength testing equipment used in this evaluation by physical therapists and other health practitioners is known as handheld dynamometers.
The measurement of movement around a joint is referred to as the range of motion which is directly influenced by muscle strength. Muscle strength refers to the force created when muscles — or group of muscles, contract. And this is particularly important since it’s most of what humans engage in daily requires optimum muscle strength.
Dynamometer muscle testing devices are the best way to consistently monitor and evaluate muscle strength in patients regardless of who is conducting the exam. But what are some of the benefits of using a manual muscle testing device for testing muscle strength?
1. Improved Ability to Perform Daily Activities
Building muscle strength involves two elements — muscular endurance and muscular power. However, these two are all essential part of developing stronger muscles that in addition to aligning your body, they also help you to work on your daily activities with greater ease while improving metabolism.
2. Reduce Muscle Injuries
Muscle injuries including strains, raptures and contusions often result from muscle weakness. If you have weak abdominal muscles you’re most likely to experience lower back pain due to reduced spine and pelvic support. Due to age, it’s possible to develop muscle weakness increasing the risks of slips, fall and fractures.
3. Aging Reduces Muscle Strength
In addition to sport-related muscle injuries, lack of muscle strength due to loss of muscle mass is also common in older age. That’s why it’s recommended to try out a range of muscle-strengthening exercises to restore muscle power, endurance and efficiency.
Muscle Testing Involves Multiple Kinds of Muscles such as:
- Wrist extension
- Knee extension
- Shoulder lateral rotation
- Elbow flexion
- Shoulder Abduction
- Hip extension
- Ankle dorosiflexion
- Hip flexion
- Hip abduction
4. Improved Overall Health
Like other tools such as activator spinal adjustment device and chiropractic adjusting instrument commonly used by physical therapists, a dynamometer muscle testing device is also vital to ensure overall health.
In addition to alleviating muscle injury, muscle strength is also known to significantly reduce some diseases such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and many others. Resistance strengthening, for example, can help mitigate bone loss which can lead to a serious condition such as osteoporosis.
Other benefits include improved metabolism, mood and allow you to get quality sleep. It’s therefore essential to have your muscle strength measured so as to identify muscle weakness or impairment resulting from disease or injury.
Muscle testing, however, requires an objective method of record muscle weakness. A dynamometer muscle testing device will not only document the muscle weakness but also provide consistent and reliable results when muscle testing — whether single testing or multiple testing. The idea is usually to have consistent results on whether the exam is conducted by therapists or any medical professionals.
What are some of the benefits of dynamometer muscle testing?
- Easy to use
- Different measurements i.e. Pounds, Newtons or Kilograms Force
- Report generation
- Industry standard