Importance of follow-up 

Follow-up provides an opportunity to review the progress the person is making towards improving their strength and achieving their goals. 

Follow up is essential to ensure your treatment is effective and to prevent injury or re-injury. 

For muscle strengthening exercises, during a follow up session, you should: 

• Re-assess muscle strength 
• Review exercises previously provided 
• Progress exercises where able 
• Refer to other services if necessary

Re-assess muscle strength 

Re-assessing muscle strength allows the clinician to assess the effectiveness of the muscle strengthening exercises delivered. 

All muscles that have been targeted by muscle strengthening exercises should be re-assessed using the MRC Muscle Power Test. 

If muscle strengthening exercises have been effective, the strength of muscles will improve on re-assessment. 

If there is no improvement in muscle strength, this may indicate: 

• The exercises selected may not be effective 
• The person may not have been performing the muscle strengthening exercises or may have been performing them with a poor technique 

You will gain more information about why there has been no improvement in muscle strength by talking with the person and reviewing exercises.