Functional Movement Screening: Why We Look Beyond the Painful Joint

When something hurts, it’s natural to focus on the painful spot.

Your knee hurts, so you want your knee looked at. Your shoulder hurts, so you want someone to evaluate your shoulder. Your back hurts, so naturally, the attention goes straight to your back.

But here’s the problem:

The place that hurts isn't always the place where the problem started.

That’s why at Advanced Physical Therapy, we take a different approach. Rather than simply evaluating the joint or body part that is bothering you, we look at how your entire body is moving and working together.

This is the idea behind functional movement screening, and it’s a big part of how we approach our TBD evaluation.

What Is Functional Movement Screening?

Functional movement screening is essentially looking at how your body moves as a whole.

Instead of asking only, “What hurts?” we also want to know:

• How well are your joints moving?

• Is one side moving differently than the other?

• Are you compensating for a lack of mobility somewhere else?

• Is your strength balanced?

• How well are you controlling your movements?

• Are certain muscles doing too much work while others aren't doing enough?

• How are your feet, ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, and neck working together?

Your body doesn’t operate as a collection of independent joints. Everything is connected.

A limitation in one area can change how another area moves, which can eventually contribute to pain or injury.

Think about your knee for a moment

If your knee hurts, it would be easy to assume that the problem is your knee.

But what if your ankle isn't moving well? What if your hip isn't providing enough stability? What if you don't have the strength or control to properly absorb force? What if your mobility is limited somewhere else and your knee is compensating for it?

Your knee may be where you feel the problem, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's where the problem began.

That distinction is incredibly important when it comes to effective physical therapy.

Why We Don't Just Evaluate the "Joint That Hurts"

One of the biggest differences between a quick injury assessment and a thorough physical therapy evaluation is the amount of information you gather.

If you come in with shoulder pain, we don't want to know only whether your shoulder hurts when you lift your arm.

We want to understand why.

How does your shoulder blade move?

How mobile is your upper back?

How strong is your shoulder?

How well are you controlling the movement?

How does your neck contribute?

What about your posture and movement patterns?

Is there a difference between your right and left sides?

The same approach applies whether you're dealing with a shoulder, knee, hip, ankle, back, or neck problem.

We don't want to put a Band-Aid on the painful area. We want to understand the entire movement system.

Your Body Is a Chain, Not a Collection of Parts

A simple way to think about this is to imagine your body as a chain.

Every link has a job, and the links have to work together.

If one link isn't doing its job, another link may have to pick up the slack.

For example, if you don't have adequate hip mobility or strength, your body may find another way to complete a movement. You may rotate through your spine more than you should. You may put additional stress on your knee. You may change the way you walk, run, squat, or climb stairs.

You can keep doing that for a while.

Until eventually, something starts to hurt.

This is one reason pain can sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. The painful area may be the last piece of the puzzle, rather than the original problem.

What Makes a Full-Body Evaluation Different?

At Advanced Physical Therapy, our TBD evaluation is designed to give us a much bigger picture of what's happening with your body.

We don't just evaluate the area you're complaining about.

We look at you as a whole person.

That means assessing things like mobility, strength, stability, balance, coordination, movement patterns, and how different areas of your body work together.

And this isn't just useful when you're already in pain.

A functional movement assessment can also help identify areas that may eventually become a problem—especially if you participate in sports, exercise regularly, have a physically demanding job, or simply want to stay active as you get older.

Finding the "Why" Behind Your Pain

This is ultimately what we're trying to accomplish.

We don't want to simply tell you:

"Your knee hurts, so let's work on your knee."

We want to understand:

"Why does your knee hurt, and what can we do to help your entire body move better so it doesn't keep happening?"

Sometimes the answer really is the joint that hurts. But sometimes we discover limitations or weaknesses elsewhere that are contributing to the problem.

That information changes how we treat you.

Instead of spending your entire appointment chasing symptoms, we can create a treatment plan based on what your body actually needs.

Functional Movement Isn't Just for Athletes

You don't have to be a professional athlete—or even someone who exercises regularly—to benefit from this approach.

Functional movement matters for all of us.

It's how you:

• Get out of a chair

• Walk up and down stairs

• Pick up your child

• Carry groceries

• Get in and out of your car

• Garden

• Play with your kids or grandkids

• Exercise

• Run

• Hike

• Travel

• Do the things you love

Our goal isn't simply to get you out of pain.

It's to help you move well enough to keep doing the things that matter to you.

Don't Just Treat the Pain. Understand the Person.

Pain is important information, but it is only one piece of the puzzle.

Where you hurt tells us where you're feeling the problem.

A thorough movement evaluation helps us understand why the problem may be happening.

That's why we believe physical therapy should go beyond treating the painful joint.

Your body is connected. Your evaluation should be too.

If you're dealing with pain, recovering from an injury, or simply want to understand how well your body is moving, a full-body evaluation can be a great place to start.

At Advanced Physical Therapy, we don't just treat the joint that hurts. We evaluate the person attached to it.