One of my hats is a certified personal trainer and I’ve been using the Functional Movement Screening (FMS) for the past ten year to consistently deliver massage therapy that help people achieve higher levels of function. For some this means getting from being in-pain to being out-of-pain, while others are shaving minutes off their 10k’s or adding yards to their drive. The Denver Fire department implemented the FMS system into the training program which saved them $8M in workman’s comp since 2016,

Over three weeks the treatments primarily focused on the restoring the shoulder girdle function by; increasing circulation to hypertonic(tight) muscles, improving joint nutrition, and decreasing some hyper-tonicity without creating instability. The orthopedic sports massage sessions included techniques such as; 

• Cranial Sacral Therapy

• Zen BodyTherapy (Rolfing)

• Myofascial Release

• Muscles Energy Techniques.

Outside the orthopedic sports massage sessions the client was given posture corrective exercises to improve his posture and increase mobility of the shoulder girdle.

The Results: The results of the treatments were measured using the FMS which assesses seven movements patterns on a 0 to 3 scale for mobility and stability. If someone scores below a 13, they are in active pain and 4 to 5 times more likely to be become injured through exercise. By the end of the 3-week series, the shoulder pain was reduced, the client was able to perform 20 push-ups with no wrist pain, his FMS score improved from 11 to 16.