Movement Competency Screen: Understanding Its Exercises and Principles

What are the different exercises under movement competency screen?

A movement competency screen evaluates an individual's fundamental movement patterns, identifying imbalances, limitations, and asymmetries that could predispose them to injury or hinder performance, typically through a battery of seven standardized movements.

Understanding Movement Competency Screens

A Movement Competency Screen (MCS) is a systematic assessment tool designed to identify an individual's baseline movement capabilities and any underlying dysfunctions. Unlike performance tests that measure strength, power, or endurance, an MCS focuses on the quality of movement. It's about how well someone moves through fundamental patterns like squatting, lunging, pushing, and pulling, rather than how much weight they can lift or how fast they can run.

The primary purpose of an MCS is proactive: to uncover muscular imbalances, joint mobility restrictions, stability deficits, and poor motor control that, if unaddressed, can lead to chronic pain, acute injury, or limit progress in exercise and sport. For fitness enthusiasts, personal trainers, and kinesiologists, understanding and utilizing these screens is crucial for developing safe, effective, and individualized exercise programs.

Key Principles of Movement Competency Screening

When conducting an MCS, the focus is on observing the body's ability to perform specific actions with control, symmetry, and efficiency. Key principles include assessing:

• Mobility: The range of motion available at a joint or series of joints.
• Stability: The ability to control movement and posture, particularly around the core and joints.
• Motor Control/Patterning: The nervous system's ability to coordinate muscles to produce smooth, efficient, and appropriate movement.
• Asymmetries: Differences in movement quality or range of motion between the left and right sides of the body.

The exercises chosen for an MCS are compound movements that reveal how different body segments work together. The goal isn't to "pass" or "fail," but to identify areas for improvement.

Common Exercises in a Movement Competency Screen

While specific screens may vary (e.g., Functional Movement Screen™ or FMS, SFMA, etc.), the core exercises typically assess similar fundamental patterns. Here are common exercises found in many comprehensive movement competency screens and what they aim to evaluate:

Overhead Squat

• Purpose: Assesses bilateral, symmetrical, and functional mobility of the hips, knees, ankles, and thoracic spine, alongside bilateral and symmetrical stability of the shoulders and core. It's a foundational pattern for many athletic movements and daily activities.
• What to Observe:
  • Knees collapsing inward (valgus): Indicates ankle dorsiflexion limitations, hip abductor weakness, or poor glute activation.
  • Torso leaning forward excessively: Suggests ankle dorsiflexion limitations, hip mobility restrictions, or weak core/erector spinae.
  • Heels lifting off the ground: Points to limited ankle dorsiflexion.
  • Arms falling forward: Indicates limited shoulder flexion, thoracic spine mobility, or poor scapular stability.

In-Line Lunge

• Purpose: Evaluates hip, ankle, and knee mobility and stability, as well as dynamic balance and trunk control in a split stance. It reflects the mechanics of walking, running, and stepping.
• What to Observe:
  • Loss of balance: Poor proprioception or core instability.
  • Knee collapse (valgus) or excessive external rotation of the front knee: Hip abductor weakness or ankle instability.
  • Foot rotation or instability: Ankle mobility or stability issues.
  • Trunk instability or excessive rotation: Core weakness.

Hurdle Step

• Purpose: Assesses hip and ankle mobility, dynamic stability of the stance leg, and stepping pattern coordination. It's a unilateral movement that mimics walking and running mechanics, requiring reciprocal movement and single-leg balance.
• What to Observe:
  • Loss of balance on the stance leg: Core or hip stability issues.
  • Contact with the hurdle: Limited hip flexion of the stepping leg or limited ankle dorsiflexion of the stance leg.
  • Trunk lean or excessive rotation: Core instability.

Shoulder Mobility

• Purpose: Assesses bilateral shoulder range of motion, scapular stability, and thoracic spine extension. It evaluates the ability to perform coordinated internal and external rotation with adduction/abduction.
• What to Observe:
  • Inability to touch hands (or significant distance between hands): Restrictions in glenohumeral joint mobility, scapular dyskinesis, or thoracic spine stiffness.
  • Compensatory movements: Excessive lumbar extension or trunk rotation.

Active Straight Leg Raise

• Purpose: Evaluates the active mobility of the hip (hamstring flexibility) while maintaining pelvic stability. It assesses the body's ability to dissociate leg movement from pelvic and lumbar spine movement.
• What to Observe:
  • Inability to raise leg sufficiently (e.g., beyond mid-thigh of opposite leg): Hamstring tightness.
  • Pelvic rotation or opposite leg lifting off the ground: Poor core stability or hip flexor dominance.

Trunk Stability Push-up

• Purpose: Assesses reflexive core stability in an anterior-posterior plane, specifically the ability to stabilize the spine during an upper body pushing pattern. It evaluates core strength and control, not necessarily upper body strength.
• What to Observe:
  • Sagging of the lumbar spine (hyperextension): Lack of core stability.
  • Movement initiated by the hips or shoulders before the trunk: Poor motor control and inability to move as a single unit.

Rotary Stability

• Purpose: Assesses multi-planar core stability and hip/shoulder separation. It evaluates the ability to control the trunk while performing reciprocal limb movements, crucial for rotational sports and everyday tasks.
• What to Observe:
  • Loss of balance or inability to maintain contact points (knee/elbow to floor): Poor core stability or hip/shoulder disassociation.
  • Trunk rotation or arching/rounding of the back: Inability to stabilize the spine during rotational movement.

Interpreting and Acting on Results

The results of a movement competency screen are not diagnostic of injury, but rather indicators of potential movement inefficiencies. A score or observation of dysfunction in a specific pattern suggests an area that needs attention, often through corrective exercises focusing on mobility, stability, or motor control. For instance, a limited overhead squat might lead to prescribing ankle mobility drills, glute activation exercises, and thoracic spine extensions before progressing to heavy back squats.

By systematically assessing these fundamental movements, fitness professionals can create highly personalized and progressive exercise programs that not only enhance performance but also significantly reduce the risk of injury, fostering long-term health and functional longevity.