What is FMS or Functional Movement Screen
By: Emilia Kubera-Shelton, DPT
Bowie Location
FMS is widely used in the athletic community as well as the military to screen for individuals at increased risk for injury and people who have deficiencies with “movement competency”. Founders of FMS point to “movement competency” as a problem and define it by looking at one's ability to perform movement without compensation.
For example, take 2 people doing squats – both can do the same number of squats but one with poor quality of movement and the other with great technique. Those two people may be asked to do the same workout during practice, but one is at risk of developing problems. FMS is designed to find these differences and direct attention to fix them.
FMS has 7 different tests: squat, in-line lunge, hurdle step, trunk push-up, active straight leg raise, shoulder mobility, and rotary stability test. The test takes about 15 min. Here at Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Center, the test is done by a licensed physical therapist at no cost. On top of that, you will get some cues on how to improve your performance or instructions on how to get help to fix more problematic deficiencies.
