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Posted by on Sep 2, 2011 | 0 comments

An FMS is an Athlete’s BFF – Why You Need to Get an FMS Today!

Have you ever been in any sort of accident or have experienced some sort of injury in your life? Most of us have had a least some minor injury to our body, be it a sprained ankle or injured hand or something more serious such as a dislocated shoulder or a torn ligament.

In fact, you don’t even have to be involved in sports at all to get a serious injury. It wouldn’t be unheard of if an adolescent playing an innocent game of nighttime tag with his friends turned the wrong way or overstretched his stride and dislocated his kneecap.

Let me tell you: that sort of injury does NOT look pretty.

And here’s the kicker – that adolescent with the dislocated kneecap, a horrible injury which could continue to plague him for the majority of the school year, could’ve easily been avoided.  Besides maybe being a bit more aware of his surroundings, he could’ve gotten a functional movement screening (FMS) from Mark Slaughter, PT, here at Fitness4Life.

Slaughter is one of the four certified physical therapists in the entire St. Louis area and is happy to provide screenings for any and all clients, young and old alike.

So what is FMS and what does it all entail?

FMS is an analysis on a person’s movement, and it evaluates the body’s vulnerabilities and inflexibilities so that future injuries will be prevented.  While your body’s weaknesses are identified, its strengths and flexibilities are also distinguished. It is a very effective screening that U.S. football, hockey, baseball, university teams and even the United States military have been using for years.

The screening includes 7 exercises and 3 easy movements to test for pain that you will undergo as you take it. They include the deep squat, in-line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk stability push up, rotary stability, impingement clearing test, press up clearing test, and posterior rocking clearing test. These exercises are scored on a scale of 0 to 3 with 0 being a complete fail and 3 being perfect. Check out this video for what the exercises look like:

FMS can also help you to become a better athlete! Once you’ve discovered your weaknesses, Slaughter can show you workouts and stretches to help you strengthen yourself so you will become much less prone to injury.

The human body is like a computer; preventative measures must be taken in order to protect it from viruses and infection, and an FMS will help you prevent injury to your body. So stop by Fitness4Life before your next workout session or sports season and ask Mark Slaughter to give you an FMS!

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Posted by on Aug 30, 2011 | 0 comments

Hey, High School Athletes! Avoid Injury with a Functional Movement Screening at Fitness4Life!

School is back in session all around the country, and with the beginning of a new year comes the beginning of new school sports seasons. Approximately 7.2 million high school students will be participating in several sports this year, either purely for fun or perhaps emulating their favorite professional athlete. Oddly enough, high school students are injured at about the same rate as professional athletes.

Injury can occur anywhere, but it is especially prominent in sports activities. Don’t let this deter youfrom allowing your adolescent to participate in high school sports; there is an efficient and simple way to help prevent future injuries, and it can be done here at Fitness4Life!

Functional Movement Screening (FMS) is an excellent and easy process to go through which helps prevent possible injury in the future in easily injured areas such as knees, shoulders, and extremities. It may sound fancy and potentially terrifying, but FMS is only a screen that helps document how your body moves compared to how your body is supposed to move. By undergoing this screen, you will be able to find out your weaknesses and any dangerous movement patterns your body does, which could later lead down the path of injury.

If you feel like you could go without taking this easy evaluation, consider these following statistics: Each year high school athletes account for an estimated 2 million injuries. Doctors are seen for injuries such as these approximately 500,000 times a year, and 30,000 of the injuries result in hospitalization.

In short, about 20 percent of adolescent athletes have injuries each year, and one in four of the injuries is deemed as serious.

Mark Slaughter, PT, here at Fitness4Life, is one of the four certified people in the St. Louis area who can perform the screening.  Flanked by years of training and experience in working with thousands of patients, Slaughter can provide the quality care you need for a sports injury, working with common injuries such as shoulders and knees and complex injuries dealing with the spinal cord and ligaments.

FMS isn’t just limited to students; adults are also welcomed to try the screening! Even the fittest adults can be prone to injury, especially in the lower back region.  While exercising moderately and warming up can help avoid any potential problems, getting an FMS is a crucial part of staying fit, healthy, and accident-free.

So what are you waiting for? Lace up those trainers and head on down to Fitness4Life to get an FMS before you start working out or your next school sports season! Your body will thank you for it!

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