Odds are you don’t remember learning how to roll, crawl, squat, stand, or walk.
Somehow, you figured out how to get up on your feet and walk around. Your next movement challenge arrived during the growth and development years when your brain and body couldn’t seem to get on the same page. Under normal circumstances, active play using a combination of pushing, pulling, climbing, running, and jumping brought your coordination back into balance. Once your 20’s rolled around, and real life kicked in, you began the process of disrupting that natural movement. A movement screening is the first step in identifying and correcting your learned patterns of compensation.
Your intrinsic learning system allowed you to go from barely lifting your head to various forms of athletic performance. You can think of this in terms of a computer. Your bones, joints, and muscles make up the hardware, and your nervous system is the software. You were pre-programmed with a series of steps which lead to a full array of functional movement patterns. Over time, you changed the input (sedentary lifestyle, injury, and repetitive motions) and developed new programs that overrode the original programs. These new patterns are based on compensations. Poor posture and muscle tightness and/or weakness create a self-perpetuating cycle of poor movement.
Movement Screening
A movement screen is designed to identify faulty patterns which could lead to injury and impact performance if left unchecked.
There are various movement screening models, but the most established is the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) by Grey Cook and Lee Burton. The screen is made up of seven separate movement patterns that represent the functional patterns we use in the real world. The FMS is not a diagnostic tool; it just evaluates your movement patterns compared to a standard.
Going back to our computer analogy, the way you move during an FMS assessment tells you where you need to reprogram. The good news is your original system is alive and well! It simply needs the right input to regain your function. By input, I mean proper posture and exercises performed correctly. There are cases where abnormalities, injuries, or permanent “hardware” damage may limit the degree to which you regain perfect function, but the closer you get, the less your chance of injury. As a result, your performance and quality of life and will be enhanced.
The screen is a fifteen-minute process that could identify faulty patterns which, if not addressed, can lead to serious setbacks in your fitness and sports performance development. Get screened today, and start your journey towards the optimal movement.
