Title : Today’s diagnosis versus tomorrow’s function: What is your focus?
Abstract:
Physiotherapy has a long-claimed history of being “the movement specialists.”Physiotherapy also claims to be on the frontlines of “improving and restoring full function after injury, illness or accident.” One of the primary movement or functional assessments is Gait Speed which has been recommended as a “Vital Sign” to be assessed at every visit. This has been promoted for the past three decades. While we claim to be on the frontlines, evidence too often disputes these claims. "Despite guidelines, policies, and incentives for providing evidence-based fall prevention, successful widespread implementation of effective fall-prevention strategies has been extremely limited." (PMID: 15341550 from 2004)
The argument has been made that, “2004 was more than two decades ago; certainly, health providers have improved their awareness and support the value of this testing. ”Yet, while many authors report high awareness, evidence shows this is, "basically nonexistent in current clinical practice” (PMID: 36827678 from 2024). Other authors report, "Findings indicate favorable knowledge but suboptimal practices among Physiotherapists" (PMID: 39807376 from 2024). We will show strong evidence in support of Functional Testing and share valuable insight to improve clinical screening and practice.
