SFMA case studies
SFMA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) is a clinical reasoning model for people who already examine and treat movement. It is built for physical therapists, chiropractors, athletic trainers, physicians, and similar licensed or certified professionals who need to decide whether a painful movement pattern is a tissue problem or a movement problem, and what to do first. The SFMA case studies are 5 cases and about 3,353 words.
1The Masters Lifter Whose Back Catches at Lockout
A 47-year-old masters powerlifter (4 sessions/week, conventional deadlift 1RM 205 kg, competing in 5 weeks) reports 6 weeks of right-sided low back "catch" that appears only at terminal hip extension. No radiating symptoms, no night pain, no unremitting pain, no change in bladder or bowel function; it settles within a minute of stopping.
707 words, about 4 min2The Yoga Teacher With a New Headache
A 34-year-old yoga instructor (teaches 12 classes/week) presents with 8 weeks of right suboccipital headache that began without trauma. She describes it as "pressure from behind the eye" and reports two episodes of brief visual blurring in the right eye in the past month.
693 words, about 3 min3Two Sessions a Week for a Desk-Based Engineer With Anterior Knee Pain
A 29-year-old software engineer (10 hours/day seated, 2 gym sessions/week, 45 minutes each) has 3 months of bilateral anterior knee pain that appears only in the overhead deep squat and on stairs. Overhead deep squat DP: knees track medially, heels rise.
631 words, about 3 min4Reassessment Where the Scores Moved But the Pain Did Not
A 41-year-old warehouse supervisor is at session 4 (week 3) of an SFMA-guided plan for 12 weeks of intermittent central low back pain. At baseline: multi-segmental flexion DP with pain at the left anterior hip; multi-segmental extension FP; single leg stance left DN; overhead deep squat DP.
632 words, about 3 min5The Sprinter With "Tight Hamstrings" and a Normal Breakout
A 24-year-old 100 m sprinter is 9 weeks post grade II right hamstring strain, cleared by the team physician for progressive running but not yet for maximal sprinting. He reports constant "tightness" in the right posterior thigh and stretches 20 minutes daily with no change.
690 words, about 3 min