Question

Which of the following statements BEST describes the stork? A. Place one foot on the inside of the leg, raise the heel of the other foot, and remain in this position as long as possible. B. Raise one foot to the side, raise the heel of the other foot, and remain in this position for as long as possible. C. Raise the heels of both feet, swing the right foot back, and remain in this position as long as possible. D. Keep both feet on the ground, bend both knees, stretch arms forward, and remain in this position as long as possible.

Answer 1

Answer: A. Place one foot on the inside of the leg, raise the heel of the other foot, and remain in this position as long as possible.

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Explanation: Keywords: Function, movement screening, performance testing.                                           ⇵

1. Function is a common term in current physical therapist practice, and what is defined as functional varies greatly between patients and clients. Being functional is of utmost importance to excellent and comprehensive rehabilitation. However, it is difficult to develop and refer to protocols or movement approaches as “functional” when a functional evaluation standard does not exist. Often, rehabilitation professionals in sports settings are far too anxious to perform specific isolated, objective testing for joints and muscles. Likewise, these clinicians often perform sports performance and specific skill assessments without first examining functional movement. It is important to inspect and understand common fundamental aspects of human movement realizing that similar movements occur throughout many athletic activities. The rehabilitation professional must realize that in order to prepare individuals for a wide variety of activities, screening of fundamental movements is imperative.
2. Today's individuals are working harder to become stronger and healthier, by working to improve their flexibility, strength, endurance, and power. It is the belief of the authors that many athletes and individuals are performing high‐level activities despite being inefficient in their fundamental movements; thus, without knowing it, these individuals are attempting to add fitness to dysfunction. Many individuals train around a pre‐existing problem or simply do not train their weaknesses during strength and conditioning (fitness) programs. In today's evolving training and rehabilitation market, athletes and medical professionals have access to a huge arsenal of equipment and workout programs; however, the best equipment and programs cannot improve fitness and health if fundamental weaknesses are not exposed. The goal is to individualize each workout program based on the person's weak link. This weak link is a physical or functional limitation. In order to isolate the weak link, the body's fundamental movement patterns should be considered. Most people do not begin strength and conditioning or rehabilitative programs by determining if they have adequate movement patterns. Thus, the authors suggest that screening an individual's fundamental movements prior to beginning a rehabilitative or strength and conditioning program is important. By looking at the movement patterns and not just one area, a weak link can be identified. This will enable the medical professional to focus on that area. If this weak link is not identified, the body will compensate, causing inefficient movements. It is this type of inefficiency that can cause a decrease in performance and an increase in injuries.
3. Commonly recommended performance tests could include sit‐ups, push‐ups, endurance runs, sprints, jumps, hops, and other power and agility activities.9 In many athletic and occupational settings, these performance activities are selected and refined for the individual and are specific to the tasks needed for their areas of performance. Most would agree: the main goals in performing pre‐participation, performance, or return to sport screening are to decrease the potential for injury, prevent re‐injury, enhance performance, and ultimately improve quality of life.6,8,10 Currently the research is inconsistent on whether the pre‐participation or performance screenings and standardized fitness measures have the ability to achieve this main goal.6,7 A reason for the lack of predictive value of screenings is that the standardized screenings do not provide individualized, fundamental analysis of an individual's movements.

Answer 2

The stork is a position designed to test the balance, and specifically to test whether a person is capable of standing on one foot: the other foot is placed on the inside of the other leg's knee. Already from this, we see that the correct answer is A - in B the person is standing on one foot, but is not placing the other leg on the "standing" leg and in C and D both feet are on the ground