The Functional Approach

Abstract

Most therapeutic methods used in orthopaedic medicine effectively treat dysfunction, not pathology. Function and dysfunction are as real as anatomy and pathological anatomy. To treat dysfunction effectively, the therapeutic and even diagnostic approaches are fundamentally different. Therefore it is not enough to master the various techniques which are effective in orthopaedic medicine; it is as important to understand dysfunction. Otherwise the best of techniques may be used at the wrong place and at the wrong moment. Precisely because of this fundamental difference in approach between orthopaedic medicine and other branches of medicine, we make the evaluation of dysfunction the first and most important task in both classification and diagnosis. Twenty points which characterise and explain this difference are listed.

Key Words:

• Function
• dysfunction
• reversible
• pathology
• chains