The Functional Movement Screen “FMS” Basics by Chris Morland, MS, CSCS
In recent years there has been a lot of attention among coaches, trainers, and athletes about the value of the Functional Movement Screen. In this blog I’m going to share my experience, a short overview of the screen (done by a former intern), and some pro’s and con’s toward the FMS certification.
I was first introduced to the FMS 8 years ago at NC State from Charles Stephenson (Utah Strength & Conditioning Coach) as he began using it with the men’s basketball team. We learned from Gray Cook’s book “Body in Balance” and screened athletes and each other on the staff. I remember doing a basic screen with Courtney Wall (maiden name who was then attending Springfield College) and student assistant Alex Lee (now strength coach at Navy) and we had a lot of questions after getting into it together.
A couple years later I obtained the online certification and began screening as many athletes as I could reaching 100 screens as fast as I could. The talk among coaches and trainers shows the need to practice the screen with and adequate larger number of clients or athletes to become proficient and understand how to score it correctly. When the screen is completed then it is important to properly interpret the results and implement “corrective exercises” that address any “in-balances” or movement deficiencies found on the screen.
Here is a short overview from Coach Justin Blatner, BS, BA, CSCS, USAW (now a strength coach at Washington State University).
The Functional Movement Screen (FMS Screen) is an assessment system that provides a means for a coach or other professional to observe the quality of the athletes movement and quantitatively measure it. The screen includes 7 exercises which are the Deep Squat, Hurdle Step, In-Line Lunge, Shoulder Mobility, Active Straight-Leg Raise, Trunk Stability Push Up, and Rotary Stability which are depicted below respectively.
The Seven Functional Movement Screen Tests 
Images from The Functional Movement Screen and Exercise Progressions Manual (Cook, G, Burton, L., Fields, K., 2007).
These exercises were chosen because they require the ability to perform fundamental movement patterns. The exercises “exacerbate the individuals compensatory movement patterns,” (Cook, G and Burton, L. ). Compensatory movement is defined as “any reflex movement that maintains a particular body position” (Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine, 2011). For example when an athlete cannot perform a movement due to an imbalance, other areas of the body compensate to perform the movement in an inefficient way.
The tests specifically allow identification of imbalances in mobility, stability, and asymmetries (Cook, G and Burton, L. ). The combination of the scores from the 7 tests is evaluated together and used to identify areas of weakness. It is important not to attempt draw conclusions from only a couple of the tests, because other weaknesses may be missed (Cook, G, Burton, L., Fields, K.) The total score is also used to identify which athletes or individuals are at a high risk. Once areas of weaknesses are identified corrective exercises can be applied to the athlete’s training to improve movement quality and reduce risk of injury. The testing scores can be applied to a team as a whole by finding the common weaknesses and applying the appropriate corrective exercises.
Application of FMS Screening and corrective exercise benefits can be seen through a study performed on 433 firefighters. The study showed a large decrease in injuries a year after screening and corrective exercise implementation. There was a 62 percent decrease in back, lower extremity, and upper extremity injuries that resulted in lost time respectively (Peate, W. F., Bates, G., Lunda, K., Fracis, S., Bellamy, K., 2007). Injury risk reduction is the number one priority in strength and conditioning. Thus the application of such screening and corrective exercise implementation into the training program could provide beneficial results. (see references below).
Now that you have a better understanding of the FMS certification here are my pro’s and con’s of getting the certification:
Pro’s:
- It is a quantitative way to measure movement
- At allows the coach/trainer and the athlete/client to see numerical progress
- It create an awareness of basic movement patterns
- The assessment has been linked to decreased injury rates
Con’s:
- The certification can be expensive to get and maintain including getting the proper equipment
- It takes a few months or longer to get a good pool of experience build up
- It can take some time learning the system to interpret the results
- Doing larger groups can take many certified coaches and a block of time to do
During this blog it was my goal to introduce you to the FMS and provide some pro’s and con’s for practitioners to consider. In a clinical setting with physical therapy and orthopedics it tends to make practical sense to implement this tool. In the general setting many coaches have been monitoring a standard of movement for years and even have personal systems set up. The readers should consider their setting and the end objective and then decide how valuable the FMS would be for their population.
Chris Morland, MS, CSCS
Director of Strength and Conditioning/Teacher
Educator and Coach | Visionary in High School Strength and Conditioning
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References
Cook, G., Burton, L., & Fields, K. (2007). The functional movement screen and exercise progressions manual.
Cook, G., & Burton, L. (n.d.). The functional movement screen; the system for a simple and quantifiable method of evaluating basic movement abilities. Retrieved from http://www.advanced-fitness-concepts.com/fms.pdf
Kent, M. (2007). Compensatory movement. The oxford dictionary of sports science & medicine. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/compensatory-movement
Peate, W. F., Bates, G., Lunda, K., Francis, S., & Bellamy, K. (2007). A new model for injury prediction and prevention. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 2(3).
