FMS (Functional Movement Screen)

FMS: what is it?

The FMS was designed to give coaches a common language for movement quality. Before it existed, "his squat looks bad" meant something different to every coach. The screen fixes the movements, fixes the scoring criteria and fixes the equipment, so two coaches watching the same client should arrive at close to the same result, and the same client screened three months apart can be compared honestly. That reproducibility is its real contribution. What it does not do is predict who gets hurt, despite how it is often sold.

The seven tests and the scoring scale

Each of the seven movements is scored 0 to 3, and the unilateral tests are scored on both sides with the lower score counting toward the total. Three clearing tests, for shoulder impingement, spinal extension and spinal flexion, are pass or fail on pain alone.

• Deep squat
• Hurdle step
• In-line lunge
• Shoulder mobility
• Active straight-leg raise
• Trunk stability push-up
• Rotary stability

What the composite score is and is not

The total out of 21 is where the FMS is most often misused. The idea that a score at or below a particular threshold identifies clients who will get injured has been examined repeatedly and the evidence is contested at best. Treating the number as a risk score, or telling a client their score means they are likely to get hurt, is not something the screen supports and not something a coach should say.

What the total is genuinely good for is being the same number next time. Screen a client, program for twelve weeks, screen again with the same criteria: if the deep squat went from 1 to 2 and the shoulder mobility stayed at 1, you have a clean read on what your programming changed and what it did not.

Asymmetries matter more than the total

Five of the seven tests are scored per side. A client scoring 2 on the left in-line lunge and 3 on the right has an asymmetry, and that asymmetry is far more actionable than the total, because it points at a specific side of a specific pattern you can address directly in the program.

Two clients can both total 14. One scored 2 across all seven tests, which is a general mobility and control picture. The other scored 3 on two patterns, 2 on three of them and 1 on the last two, with a left-right difference behind one of those 1s, which is a targeted problem. The totals are identical and the coaching decisions are completely different, which is exactly why the total should never travel alone.

Where a coach has to stop

A score of 0 means the client reported pain during the movement. The protocol is unambiguous: stop the test, do not score it, and refer the client to a medical professional. You do not work around it, name it or investigate it further yourself.

The same logic applies to the rest of the screen. The FMS tells you a pattern is limited. It does not tell you why, and the difference between a genuine joint restriction, a soft tissue limitation, a motor control problem and something that needs a physio is not something a movement screen can resolve. Use it to choose exercises and regressions, and refer when anything hurts.