Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Oct;12(5):752-763.

INTER-RATER RELIABILITY OF THE SELECTIVE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT (SFMA) BY SFMA CERTIFIED PHYSICAL THERAPISTS WITH SIMILAR CLINICAL AND RATING EXPERIENCE

Affiliations

INTER-RATER RELIABILITY OF THE SELECTIVE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT (SFMA) BY SFMA CERTIFIED PHYSICAL THERAPISTS WITH SIMILAR CLINICAL AND RATING EXPERIENCE

Jeffery Dolbeer et al. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Background: The Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) assesses posture, muscle balance, and movement patterns in order to identify relevant musculoskeletal dysfunction in a clinical population.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to: (1) determine if raters with similar clinical experience and rating experience exhibit adequate agreement of the scoring for the SFMA during clinical use; (2) determine the reliability of the categorical scoring of the SFMA in a clinical population; (3) determine the reliability of the criterion checklist scoring of the SFMA in a clinical population; (4) compare the reliability of real-time assessment to recorded assessment.

Design: Inter-rater reliability study.

Methods: 49 clinical subjects (20.7 years ± 1.6) were simultaneously assessed in real-time by two physical therapists and were recorded with digital video cameras in the sagittal and frontal view while they performed the fifteen component movement patterns that comprise the top-tier SFMA. The third physical therapist assessed the patterns from the video. Subjects were assessed using the SFMA categorical scoring and criterion checklist scoring tools.

Results: The two live clinical raters demonstrated the greatest Cohen's Kappa scores (10 of 15) with moderate or better inter-rater agreement (Kappa > 0.40) using the categorical scoring tool. The overall ICC [2,1] score indicated fair to moderate agreement between all raters for the criterion checklist scoring (ICC, SEM, p-value) (0.61, 8.23, p < 0.001). Real time clinical use was the most reliable method for using the criterion checklist scoring tool (0.72, 1.95, p=0.43).

Conclusions: Using the categorical and criterion checklist tools in a clinical population to score the fifteen component fundamental movements of the SFMA demonstrated moderate or better reliability when performed clinically by certified SFMA raters.

Level of evidence: Reliability, Level 2.

Keywords: Dysfunction; functional movement; reliability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Layout for data and video collection. m = meters
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Number of injuries by region.
None
None

References

    1. Wainner R Whitman J Cleland J Flynn T. Regional interdependence: a musculoskeletal examination model whose time has come. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2007;37(11):658-660. - PubMed
    1. Sueki DG Cleland JA Wainner RS. A regional interdependence model of musculoskeletal dysfunction: research, mechanisms, and clinical implications. J Man Manip Ther. 2013;21(2):90-102. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McDevitt A Young J Mintken P Cleland J. Regional interdependence and manual therapy directed at the thoracic spine. J Man Manip Ther. 2015;23(3):139-146. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holzbaur K Murray W Delp S. A model of the upper extremity for simulating musculoskeletal surgery and analyzing neuromuscular control. Ann Biomed Eng. 2005;33(6):829-840. - PubMed
    1. Cleland JA Childs JD McRae M Palmer JA Stowell T. Immediate effects of thoracic manipulation in patients with neck pain: a randomized clinical trial. Man Ther. 2005;10(2):127-135. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources