What are the Functional Movement Screen and Y Balance Test?
Working out is awesome. Playing sports is awesome. Pushing your body to meet the demands of your active lifestyle is awesome…
But injury and lack of performance…well, they’re not so great!
Is your body ready to do what YOU want it to do? Perhaps you should consider testing that can show you…
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) and Y Balance Test are two tools that can help provide you with the answer to “Am I Ready?”…
…And keep you from the frustration of dealing with another injury or struggling just to make the slightest improvement in performance.
At Modern Athlete PT, the FMS and Y Balance Test are frequently used together with software analysis (provided by Move2Perform) to provide you with a picture of how efficiently your body is working to produce and control movement and your injury risk assessment.
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS)
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is comprised of seven movements. The score of each movement (and the total score of all movements) is essentially answering the question “does your current movement reflect the way your body was intended to move?”.
The FMS is designed to uncover movement deficiencies and side-to-side asymmetries that you may not notice or pay attention to, as well as underlying pain that may be dominating the way in which you move (without you even being aware of it!).
These issues have been shown to lead to higher risks of injury and are theorized to limit the strength and power your body is capable of producing.
The Y Balance Test
The Y Balance Test is comprised of two separate components to assess upper and lower body function. This test answers the question “does your body support movement on one extremity the same as the other?”. Each of these components reveals side-to-side asymmetries in your body’s ability to produce and control movement.
The researchers who developed the Y Balance Test theorize that the successfulness of the test to predict injury is rooted in its inclusion of all aspects of movement — range of motion, strength, proprioception, core stability, etc.
The FMS and Y Balance Test can help keep you moving forward
At Modern Athlete PT, the combination of FMS and Y Balance Test (using Move2Perform’s software analysis) is used to answer specific questions…
✔ Is an injured individual ready to return to a high level of activity (i.e., sport, fitness, recreation)?
✔ Is a “healthy” individual ready to begin training / exercising at a high level?
✔ Do specific “weak links” require specific programming to be added to the current performance program (i.e., workouts, structured training, CrossFit, strength and conditioning programs, etc.)?
✔ Is the current performance program making meaningful changes to how your body is producing and controlling movement?
There are a number of other rehab-related and performance-related tests to determine “functional readiness” of your body to succeed within high-level activities. Unfortunately, those tests all seem to hit only a portion of how the body functions.
For example, a test may assess strength in a static position, but not as the body produces movement. Or a test may assess strength and power, buy only in a limited range of motion. Therefore, a complete picture of the individual’s movement system is missing.
Using the FMS and Y Balance Tests is the best option for evaluating if your movement system really is ready for movement! Being “pain free” with daily life doesn’t mean your body is ready for the rigors of tough workouts, consistent training, or playing sports.
Put yourself in the best position to succeed in meeting your goals (and stay healthy doing it)!
Are you interested in finding out if using the FMS and Y Balance Test may be helpful for you? If so, I can help answer that question (and any others) at your free 30-minute Discovery Visit.
Discovery Visits are informational sessions designed to provide you with the answers to help you feel more confident about making the decision that’s best for you…
And there’s no risk to you for scheduling a Discovery Visit…It’s 100% free. Plus, there’s no need to get a referral from your doctor or check with your insurance.
Your only investment is the 30 minutes to complete the Discovery Visit. You’ll begin by telling me about your issues, then I’ll put you through a basic assessment. From there, I’ll be better able to answer your questions, including what I see going on and the various ways you may find a solution.
(Of course, you understand that since this is a free informational visit, no treatment will be provided.)
Click on the button above to learn more about Discovery Visits and find out if the FMS and Y Balance Test will keep you on track to meet your goals!