"Make mine a double.... or a single?"

Functional, multi-joint screening and conditioning has been around for 50 years or more. We have been using those principles for the last 20 years in our clinics and facilities and these principles can have a profound effect on human performance, injury prevention and management. However, after having used them for 10 years we began to realise that functional screening is not the panacea for all ills and there are fundamental areas that it does not address. People still get injured and their performances can still be compromised despite being functionally trained. The problem with the fitness industry in particular is that functional training has only been recently introduced so its not at the point where PTs have been able to work this out themselves yet, its not been around for long enough in this arena. As specialists in rehabilitation and conditioning for elite and recreational sportspeople, we have found that there are huge flaws in only using one type of screening.

Over the last 20 years we have developed a screen that compliments all other forms of screening, including functional, postural, physiological and even psychological screening. Its called Biomechanical screening. Nothing new in the name, but this is ‘intrinsic’ biomechanical screening, not the extrinsic, which is usually associated with the word biomechanical. Here we work on single joints and systems. The principle is simple; with functional screening, by definition more than one joint is being tested, otherwise it wouldn’t be functional. The problem is that if one joint is dysfunctional, with the body being a master of compensation, other joints can take over and you can still pass a functional screen and you don’t always have a visible movement impairment. In fact often you don’t. So it is important to have a single joint screen to compliment any functional screen to ensure this does not occur. In fact we have found with our work that you can have clients who pass a functional screen but still have single joint problems; and the biomechanical screen picks them up. Often we find that by taking someone through a biomechanical screen and getting them through that, they frequently pass a functional screen anyway. The brain is the most sophisticated engine management chip, often you can provide it with the right equipment and it will sort out the functional movement by itself.....that’s what its deigned to do, and often far better than any exercise programme you or I can provide.

Even our functional training gurus have started to realise this is true. One of our Biomechanics Coaches, who is also an international Strength and Conditioning Coach, sent a quote from an extract by Mike Boyle from a recent blog, “[Gray] Cook's thoughts were simple and led me to realize that the future of training may be a joint-by-joint approach rather than a movement-based approach. Gray's analysis of the body was a straightforward one; in his mind, the body is a just a stack of joints. Each joint or series of joints has a specific function and is prone to specific, predictable levels of dysfunction. As a result, each joint has specific training needs.”

They are right, and I’m delighted for their ‘functional disciples’ that they have recognised this essential point of view. For more information on how to be amongst the first to learn this ‘single joint screening’ and which underpins any other form of screening, which has been around and proven over the last 20 years with elite and recreational performers, look at www.intelligenttrainingsystems.com. We have been providing Biomechanics Coaching qualifications and workshops for 3 years and have trained hundreds of Biomechanics Coaches, so look us up and join the team....your clients will be grateful and so will your bank manager!