For many years professional athletes have undergone physical assessments before transferring clubs or returning to play from injury. The purpose of these is to expose any weaknesses or limitations in the athlete’s physical condition that may be risk factors for injury.
BUT…..
You don’t have to be a professional athlete to undergo a physical assessment. Health and fitness professionals are continually looking for ways to encourage people to exercise more and minimise risk of re-injury when returning to sport. This has led to increasing use of specific movement screens.
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) 
The FMS is a screen made up of seven movements
including squatting, lunging, shoulder and hip mobility. These are functional movements that we use many times a day without even realising it. For more active people, these movements become even more important as they are performed quicker and more forcefully at the gym or on the sporting field.
The FMS was first developed in 1998 and since then it has been refined and researched extensively. Evidence has shown that the FMS is valid and reliable for use in both the sporting and general populations.
We are lucky to have three FMS-certified therapists at Southside Physiotherapy. We use the FMS as a timely but comprehensive screen for biomechanical deficits. The FMS identifies weakness, stiffness or asymmetry that will increase risk of future injury, contribute to pain, or hinder sporting performance. Once identified, these deficits can be treated. The FMS also gives a numerical result, so that performance can be compared at a later date after you have been given treatment or corrective exercises.
FMS and Dynamic Spines 
Here at Southside Physiotherapy we have taken the FMS
one step further and developed our own program which specifically targets muscles of the core and spine. Our Dynamic Spines program starts and finishes with an FMS assessment and involves eight weeks of progressive exercise. If you have a resolving episode of back pain, or a history of back pain and are concerned about suffering a future incident, you are the perfect candidate to come in and have an FMS screen and continue on to our Dynamic Spines program.
For more information on taking your performance to the next level, or minimising your risk of injury, phone Southside Physiotherapy on 9527 4099.