Functional classification in rehabilitation medicine refers to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).
ICF is a form of categorization of normal functioning and disability of the human body. The concept of this categorization reflects the three levels of healthy functioning of the human body (physical functioning, individual functioning, and social functioning) by using three levels of disability, activity limitation, and participation limitation.
For example, a patient with spinal cord injury of thoracic 12 segments may have weakness of both lower limbs, sensory loss, incontinence in physical function; in individual function, he/she faces the problem of not being able to stand and walk, needing to use a wheelchair for a long time, and having difficulty in getting on and off the toilet and completing urination and defecation by himself/herself; in social function, it is difficult for him/her to go out independently to work and study.
The purpose of proposing ICF is to serve as an international standardized language to promote mutual communication among healthcare workers, healthy people, patients, and people with disabilities, as well as to facilitate the understanding and mutual communication of society towards people with disabilities.