Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA)
The SFMA is a series of innovative tests and assessments developed by renowned physical therapist Gray Cook. It’s often thought of as the ‘big brother’ to the FMS, as both were developed by Cook and his team. The main difference is the SFMA and the FMS is detail.
The SFMA is far more in depth, and methodically breaks down the movements tested to identify the underlying cause of your problem.
What the SFMA can do for you
The SFMA will help us identity if the pain you’re experiencing is actually down to pathology (inflammation, damaged tissue, medical condition, etc) or due to a movement compensation dysfunction. The latter is far more common which is why we use a treatment system around assessing and improving movement.
The SFMA assessment
Basic movements such as: bending forward, backward, rotation, squat, neck / shoulder movements form the basis of the SFMS. Using a series of active vs passive and loaded vs unloaded movements, allows us to identify the reason why you can’t perform certain movements as required.
The outcome of the SFMA will enable us to administer the most appropriate treatment strategy. SFMA dysfunction is categorised into three boxes, which represent different stages of the treatment process:
