Functional Movement Assessment Prevents Pain and Injury

Functional Movement Assessment Prevents Pain and Injury

Pain and injury can usually be traced to one or more movement deficiencies. Most develop slowly, starting with small movement limitations that go unnoticed until the body can no longer compensate. A Functional Movement Assessment is designed to catch those limitations early, helping prevent pain and injury before they disrupt your life.

This assessment is rooted in Applied Functional Science (AFS), a modern, evidence-informed approach to physical therapy that focuses on how your body actually moves in everyday life.

What Is a Functional Movement Assessment?

A Functional Movement Assessment is a guided evaluation of how your body moves through essential, real-world patterns such as:

• Squatting and bending
• Reaching and lifting
• Stepping and walking
• Rotating and balancing

Rather than isolating one muscle or joint, the assessment looks at how your entire body works together—from your feet to your spine to your shoulders—while standing, balancing, and moving through space.

This matters because life doesn’t happen lying on a table. It happens while moving.

What Makes Applied Functional Science Different?

Applied Functional Science recognizes that the human body moves in three dimensions and must adapt to gravity, ground forces, and changing environments.

At Superior Physical Therapy, AFS-based assessments emphasize:

• Movement in all planes (forward/backward, side-to-side, and rotational)
• How joints influence one another
• Balance, coordination, and control
• Real-life positions instead of artificial test postures

This approach provides a clearer picture of how movement limitations truly affect your body.

Detecting Problems Before They Become Painful

Functional movement deficiencies often exist long before symptoms appear. A Functional Movement Assessment can reveal:

• Asymmetries between left and right sides
• Reduced mobility in key joints
• Poor load transfer through the body
• Compensations that increase stress elsewhere

When these issues go unaddressed, the body adapts—but not always in healthy ways. Over time, those adaptations can lead to chronic pain, joint irritation, or injury.

Pain is often the last warning sign, not the first.

How a Functional Movement Assessment Prevents Injury

By identifying movement limitations early, your therapist can:

• Restore mobility where it’s lacking
• Improve stability and control where needed
• Optimize how forces move through your body
• Reduce unnecessary strain on joints and tissues

This proactive approach helps keep you active, confident, and resilient—whether you’re exercising, working, or simply enjoying daily life.

Who Can Benefit?

A Functional Movement Assessment is valuable even if you’re not currently in pain. It’s especially helpful if you:

• Want to stay active as you age
• Exercise regularly or play sports
• Have a history of injuries
• Sit or stand for long periods
• Feel stiff, off-balance, or restricted

You don’t need pain to benefit from better movement.

Movement Is Powerful—When It’s Guided Well

Applied Functional Science doesn’t view the body as broken. It views the body as adaptable.

A Functional Movement Assessment simply shows where your body needs support, mobility, or control to move better and safer. Addressing those needs early can help prevent pain, reduce injury risk, and protect your long-term independence.

Because the best time to take care of your movement
is before pain forces you to.

Check out more info on how a Movement Screen can help you here: Full Body Movement Assessment | Superior Physical Therapy

Sign up for a FREE assessment here: https://www.free-assessment.com/