From Scan to Plan: How We Integrate Imaging, Assessment, and the Patient Story

Imaging is powerful.

So is movement assessment.

So is the patient narrative.

But none of them are complete in isolation.

The highest-level clinical reasoning lives where all three overlap.

Who This Is For

- Physiotherapists managing complex cases

- Exercise professionals working with persistent pain

- Medical practitioners involved in conservative care

The Big Picture (Plain Language)

Scans show structure.

Assessment shows function.

The patient story shows context.

When one dominates the other two, clinical decision-making becomes distorted.

True reasoning integrates:

- What the tissue looks like

- How the system moves

- What the person is experiencing

The Deeper Layer (Anatomy, Physiology, Control)

Structural findings such as:

- Disc bulges

- Degeneration

- Facet arthropathy

- Tendon thickening

Do not automatically equal symptom drivers.

Neural sensitivity, load history, recovery capacity, and motor control often explain symptom persistence far better than structure alone.

What This Means in Real Practice

Clinicians get stuck when:

- They chase pathology that isn’t dominant

- They ignore neural sensitivity

- They load too aggressively

- Or they under-load for too long

Rehab stalls not because the plan is wrong - but because the priority is wrong.

What We Actually Do at Biokinetics

We sequence rehab based on:

- Neural irritability

- Movement control deficits

- Load tolerance

- Psychological safety

- Medical context

This prevents over-treating the scan and under-treating the system.

When to Escalate Care

Progressive neurological loss, constitutional symptoms, or rapidly deteriorating function always shift priority back toward medical investigation.

Closing Reflection

Great rehab is rarely about doing more.

It’s about choosing what matters most - first.

Biokinetics works closely with medical specialists and allied health professionals to guide complex rehabilitation with clarity and clinical reasoning.