Functional Movement Screening
One of the best tools for diagnosing the cause of injury is evaluating how a person moves—where they move well, where they don’t move well, and what areas may be influencing the symptoms they are experiencing.
Functional Movement Screening (F.M.S.) helps our doctors dial into the subtle movement cues that can cause injury or prevent full recovery from injury. These movement screens help us quickly identify where a patient is moving well (or too much), where they’re not moving enough, or where they need more stability to “hold” treatment results longer.
F.M.S. is a ranking and scoring system that documents movement patterns that are key to normal function. By screening these patterns, the F.M.S. readily identifies functional limitations and asymmetries. These are issues that can reduce the effects of functional training and physical conditioning and distort body awareness or proprioception.
The F.M.S. generates the Functional Movement Screen Score, which is used to target problems and track progress. This scoring system can then be directly linked to the most beneficial corrective exercises to restore mechanically sound movement patterns if applied by professions certified in its usage. Exercise professionals monitor the F.M.S. score to track progress and to identify those exercises that will be most effective to restore proper movement and build strength in each individual.
The F.M.S. simplifies the concept of movement and its impact on the body. The screen effortlessly identifies asymmetries and limitations, diminishing the need for extensive testing and analysis. The F.M.S. creates a functional baseline to mark progress and provides a means to measure performance. The F.M.S. quickly identifies dangerous movement patterns so that they can be addressed. It also indicates an individual’s readiness to perform exercise so that realistic goals can be set and achieved, screening movements that may be potentially dangerous or prone to cause injury. The F.M.S. can be applied at any fitness level, simplifying corrective strategies of a wide array of movement issues.
