The Functional Movment Screen, Better Than Advertised

Finding The Cause Not Treating The Symptom

I wrote previously about going to see an ART practitioner for my knee and back issues.  It was a good experience and I did have some success with it.  My back however (more specifically my latissimus dorsi and trapezius) are still quite sore and getting worse.  Also since I have started to learn and attempt Olympic lifts I have realized that my back and hip flexors are impeding my ability to do a over head squat.  I wanted to get these issues finally fixed and figured out by someone that has a good knowledge of physiology and can provide some passive treatment as well.

I searched all over my local area and finally found a Chiropractor that is an ART practitioner as well as knowledgeable in Gray Cook’s FMS, Dr. Carla Cupido.  I had to travel 35 minutes from my work office to get to her new practice and I probably passed 10 other ART Chiros on the way, but it was worth it.

After reading the Pre-hab chapters of The 4-Hour Body I knew I had imbalances and I had to find someone that was knowledgeable in the FMS in order to get them corrected.  It was amazing to see how someone knowledgeable can watch you do a squat, see what your body is doing to compensate, and fix it immediately.  Needless to say I was impressed.    Simply engaging my glutes and stablizing with my upper back by using 2 resistance bands my form was much better.  After the squat my hurdle step was also poor.  My right side more than my left which is expected do to my right knee and hip issues.  My push up was good, as I have always done good push ups from getting yelled at in sports growing up, and I have been doing a lot of planks lately from the Max Capacity Training.  The inline lunge was tough but I did OK.  My leg lift was better than expected, probably due to all the foam rolling, stretching and deadlifts I’ve been doing.  My rotary stability was not good, probably as bad as the guy in the video, but that is one tough movement.   My arm swing was better on my right than my left, due to my left side back issues, this was “fixed” with the ART treatment.

The following ART treatment was intense.  I don’t think I have ever had anyone hit every issue in my body like that before, and actually make an immediate difference.  I have so new exercises to work on that focus on my deficiencies and actually make sense now.

While discussing this with my wife and friends I mentioned that it seems each new practitioner I see tends to be better, or I just get better at explaining my millions of issues.  I highly recommend anybody that has an imbalance caused by an injury to find a practitioner with multiple disciplines like FMS and ART.

Dr. Cupido’s blog has a ton of useful info on it as well.  Like studies about running shoes and pronation, balance and proprioception,  pillows and sleeping, and much more useful info.

Has anyone else out in 4HB land done a FMS?