Why your physiotherapist keeps asking about your goals
Treatment plans built around function tend to work better than those built around pain scores alone. Here is why.
"What do you want to get back to doing?" sounds like small talk. It is actually the question that shapes the entire treatment plan.
Pain scores are a poor target on their own
Pain fluctuates with sleep, stress, activity and mood. Two patients reporting the same pain score can have completely different levels of function — one still working and exercising, the other unable to climb stairs.
Function is more stable, more measurable, and much more closely related to quality of life.
Goals determine the exercises
Returning to a desk job, to competitive running, or to lifting a grandchild require different capacities. The strength, range and endurance targets are different, and so is the timeline.
Goals tell us when you are finished
Without a defined endpoint, treatment tends to continue indefinitely. Clear goals let both sides recognise when the work is done — which usually means fewer appointments, not more.
Make the goal specific
"Feel better" is hard to work with. "Walk to the market and back without stopping" or "return to 5 km without knee pain" gives everyone something concrete to measure against.
