Introduction
Whether you’re recovering from an injury, managing chronic pain, or pushing your athletic performance to the next level, understanding your body’s strength and movement is key to success. But how do we measure progress beyond just “I think it feels better” or “I think I’m getting stronger”? At Defy, we’ve invested in cutting-edge technology– VALD Performance ForceDecks and DynaMo– to provide objective, data-driven insights into your recovery and performance. These tools allow us to precisely assess your strength, balance and power, giving you clear, trackable results that help guide your rehabilitation or training plan.
Whether you’re someone looking to regain function, fix a nagging injury or painful body part, or a high-level athlete looking to optimize your performance, these tools give us an inside look at how your body moves and adapts over time. But what exactly are ForceDecks and DynaMo, and how do they work? Let’s dive in.
What Are They?
ForceDecks and DynaMo are two powerful tools that allow physiotherapists, chiropractors, or athletic therapists to accurately measure strength, power, and balance, taking the guesswork, subjectivity and human error out of rehabilitation and performance tracking.
ForceDecks (sometimes referred to as Force Plates): Imagine standing on two high-tech platforms that can analyze every aspect of how you move– whether you’re jumping, squatting, or simply shifting your weight. ForceDecks measure the forces your body produces with each movement, helping us assess strength imbalances, stability, and recovery progress in real-time from a tablet.
DynaMo (a digital and versatile handheld Dynamometer): Strength and the ability to generate force from our muscles is a key part of recovery, and DynaMo lets us measure it with precision. This handheld device accurately assesses muscle strength in different areas of the body, allowing us to track changes over time and fine-tune your rehab or training program based on actual data.
These tools go beyond traditional strength and balance tests, providing measurable data that makes your progress clearer and your rehab plan more personalized. Up next, let’s explore exactly what they measure and why that matters for you.
What Do They Measure and How is That Useful?
One of the biggest advantages of ForceDecks and DynaMo is their ability to provide precise, objective measurements of key physical attributes (i.e. things that are often difficult to assess with the naked eye). These tools don’t just give you a number; they also provide a percentile score, helping you understand how your strength, power, or balance compares to others in your age group, sport, or recovery stage. This means you’ll know exactly where you stand– and more importantly, where you can improve.
Here are just a few examples of critical measurements that these tools provide:
- Jump Height & Landing Force (ForceDecks) – Whether you’re an athlete looking to enhance explosive power or a client recovering from a lower-body injury, measuring jump height and landing mechanics can be crucial. ForceDecks track how high you jump and how well you absorb force upon landing, helping identify imbalances that could predispose you to future injury or inefficiencies in movement.
- Balance & Stability (ForceDecks) – Balance is key for everyone, whether you are an elderly client recovering from a fall, a client who has been in a brace or cast after surgery, or a high-level athlete refining your agility. ForceDecks can detect subtle shifts in weight distribution, providing insights into how well you control your movements and how stable you are during various tasks like standing (e.g. both legs vs single legged, eyes open vs closed), squatting, or lunging. These are movements we do throughout the day naturally without even thinking about them.
- Peak Muscle Strength (DynaMo) – DynaMo gives us an accurate measure of how much force your muscles can generate. This is crucial for tracking rehabilitation progress, especially for clients recovering from injuries like ACL tears, rotator cuff repairs, total knee/hip replacements, nerve-related weakness or tendinopathies/tendinitis.
- Strength Asymmetries (DynaMo & ForceDecks) – Large strength imbalances between limbs can increase injury risk and slow recovery. Both ForceDecks and DynaMo help identify asymmetries by comparing right vs. left leg power, upper vs. lower body strength, or dominant vs. non-dominant limb performance. This allows for targeted interventions to correct weaknesses and restore balance throughout the body.
- Rate of Force Development (ForceDecks & DynaMo) – It’s not just about how strong you are, but how quickly you can generate force. Think of everyday examples where you not only need to move, but move quickly! E.g. crossing the street as the counter counts down, jogging to catch a bus or train, or simply keeping up with your kids. This measurement is also essential for athletes who need rapid power output (sprinters, jumpers) and for clients working on rebuilding fast muscle activation after injury or surgery.
By providing both raw numerical data and percentile rankings, these tools make it easier for clients to understand their progress in a meaningful way. You’re not just improving, you’re seeing exactly how you compare to others and where you need to focus next.
Are These Tools Reliable and Accurate?
When it comes to rehabilitation and performance training, precision matters. Traditional strength and balance assessments often rely on subjective observations or manual muscle testing, which can vary significantly between practitioners. One physiotherapist may push harder against your muscles than another, and interpret your strength differently, leading to the potential for human error in treatment planning. ForceDecks and DynaMo on the other hand eliminate this variability by providing highly reliable, data-driven measurements, ensuring that every test result is accurate, repeatable, and meaningful for your progress.
VALD Performance products are used by elite sports teams, research institutions, and rehabilitation clinics worldwide because of their high reliability and scientific validation. Studies have shown that both ForceDecks and DynaMo provide consistent, objective measurements, making them a gold standard in musculoskeletal assessment.
The Defy Team continues to learn the best ways to use these tools in your rehabilitation journey:
What About My Privacy?
The VALD Hub: Secure Data Storage & Progress Tracking for Clients:
One of the biggest advantages of these tools is their seamless data integration through the VALD Hub, a cloud-based system that securely stores your results. Instead of scribbling numbers on paper or even a separate website where you have to painstakingly copy and paste values over, VALD’s strength and movement data is automatically uploaded to the cloud, allowing your physiotherapist or chiropractor to track changes over time, compare past results, and tailor your rehab or training plan with precision.
If you’re a client recovering from an injury, you’ll be able to see how your numbers improve over multiple sessions. If you’re an athlete, you can monitor performance trends and make adjustments to your training accordingly. You can work with your clinician to create a client profile where you can sign onto the hub on your own and track your progress.
We take privacy very seriously. Your data is stored securely, and VALD ensures that all measurement results are anonymized, meaning your information is never shared or linked to personal identifiers. This means you can benefit from precise tracking without concerns about your sensitive health data being compromised.
By combining cutting-edge accuracy, real-time cloud tracking, and strict privacy measures, ForceDecks and DynaMo offer a professional, high-tech approach to rehabilitation and performance testing while keeping your personal data safe.
Real-World Application: ForceDecks and DynaMo in ACL Rehabilitation
Recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a complex process that demands precise assessment and targeted intervention. Integrating advanced technologies like ForceDecks and DynaMo into rehabilitation protocols enhances the accuracy of assessments and the effectiveness of treatment plans.
ForceDecks:
During the mid to late stages of recovery, specific tests conducted using ForceDecks provide valuable insights:
- Single Leg Land and Hold: This test evaluates an athlete’s ability to stabilize and control their body upon landing on the injured leg, highlighting balance and strength deficits.
- Hop and Return: By assessing the power and control during a hop followed by a return to the starting position, this test identifies asymmetries and potential weaknesses in the limb being rehabbed.
- Single Leg Drop Jump: This exercise measures reactive strength and neuromuscular control (basically how well you can jump, hit the ground and land with stability!), which are crucial for determining readiness to resume high-impact activities like explosive sports.
The video below demonstrates similar key metrics using VALD force plates:
These assessments provide detailed data on force production, landing mechanics, and limb symmetry, enabling physiotherapists, chiropractors, and athletic therapists to tailor interventions that address specific deficiencies and monitor progress effectively.
DynaMo:
In ACL rehabilitation, restoring quadriceps strength and ensuring symmetry between both legs is very important. DynaMo, a handheld dynamometer, offers accurate measurements of muscle strength. Two of the most important measurements in ACL recovery are:
- Quadriceps Strength Evaluation: By quantifying the force generated by the quadriceps, DynaMo assists in tracking recovery and guiding strength training protocols. The quadricep is a very important muscle to protect the knee joint.
- Limb Symmetry Assessment: Comparing strength between the injured and uninjured legs helps in identifying imbalances, which is crucial for reducing re-injury risk and determining readiness to return to sport. Keep in mind, we compare this to age-matched norms as sometimes the uninjured leg is not necessarily as strong as it should be.
By incorporating ForceDecks and DynaMo into ACL rehabilitation, we can make data-driven decisions that enhance the recovery journey, ultimately supporting a confident and smart return to sport
Conclusion:
Incorporating cutting-edge technology into physiotherapy is a game-changer for both injury rehabilitation and athletic performance. ForceDecks and DynaMo provide objective, precise, and real-time data, empowering both clients and clinicians to track progress, tailor treatments, and optimize recovery like never before. Whether you’re rehabbing from an injury, improving strength, or fine-tuning your athletic performance, these tools offer unparalleled accuracy and insights to help you reach your goals faster and safer.
Now that you know how these powerful technologies can help you, take the next step in your recovery or performance journey– book an assessment with one of our expert physiotherapists, chiropractors, or athletic therapists at Defy today!
Written by Moe Hussain, Placement Student April 2025, Queens University
References:
https://valdperformance.com/news/force-plates-101-what-are-they-and-why-are-they-used
https://valdperformance.com/products/dynamo
https://valdperformance.com/products/forcedecks
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