Functional Movement Screen

FMS and SFMA established specific, criteria-based standards for what constitutes quality execution of functional movements such as split squats, push-ups, and hurdle steps. The three-step FMS/SFMA treatment algorithm is one valid pathway but not the only route to change; targeted movement activities can produce equivalent results. Labels such as dysfunctional non-painful are criticized for framing adaptive movement as dysfunctional. SFMA is not rejected as useless when practitioners achieve client-valued outcomes with sound reasoning and execution. As of approximately 2012–2013, the only frontal plane measure in the FMS/SFMA was inversion and eversion of the ankle and foot. The article’s objections to SFMA concern classification, focus, missing measures, and treatment rationale. A major objection is that SFMA appears to lack enough frontal plane measures. Tissue extensibility and joint mobility classifications are questioned when they imply specific local tissue diagnoses. The reset, reinforce, reload model is questioned when its rationale assumes highly specific joint or tissue changes. The tissue extensibility versus joint mobility dysfunction distinction is questionable because…