How a Functional Movement Screen can improve your form.

Strength

Strength training is one of the core parts of overall fitness training. Pretty much every activity we do has an element of strength or strength endurance. But with all exercises, technique or “form” takes precedence over performance (eg amount of weight or number of reps, etc). In other words, can the person competently complete the exercise.

In order to complete an exercise, we need to ensure there is:

No pain!!

Pain is a game changer. Pain is an alert to the body to change the way it moves. The problem here though is that there is no consistent pattern to how the body changes the way it moves. It is dependent on the specific body and its history.

Adequate function

Before any exercise it is a good idea to ensure the body has mobility and proper motor control to be able to perform the strength exercise! An example of this would be squats.

Would you add a 30kg barbell to a squat if the person could not squat properly without any weight? The answer of course is no, as there is obviously a problem there with the person’s movement pattern. The movement pattern must be corrected: be it more ankle or thoracic spine mobility; or retraining a knee from turning in when pushing up out of the squat.

So how do we do this?

There is series of 7 simple movement tests called the Functional Movement Screen or FMS for short. This movement screen identifies and categorises our movement into functional and dysfunctional patterns and provides drills to improve the mobility, stability and motor control of each pattern. It is not a test to get everyone to move perfectly, but rather a tool to ensure problem areas in fundamental movement are tagged and addressed before the hard work begins.

Founder of the FMS Gray Cook explains this by saying “We need to Move Well before we Move Often”

So How Can I Do This?

Easy. Give Ash a Call at Body and Spine Solutions to book your appointment on (02) 5310 6259 or book online at www.bodyandspinesolutions.com.au

Yours in Health

Ian.