Are Your Kids Training With Movement Dysfunction

The Need To Identify A Current Problem With Your Child Is Essential To Preventing Future Injury Risk!

This seems so simple but its often overlooked. Function (your movement) influences structure (joints and bones) through the S.A.I.D. (specific adaptation to imposed demands) principal which states, “the tissues of the body will adapt or remold continuously based on the activity or lack of activity that occupies most of your child’s time and attention”.

This basically means that if your child is training for sport specific activities with out addressing movement quality and how muscle imbalances can affect mobility and stability research studies say that your kid will have a higher likely chance of being injured.

This applies to adults as well; cycling and running on the weekends combined with sitting in front of your computer during the rest of the week means, your body is being subjected to certain overload patterns that can lead to musculosketeletal disorders.

And an acquired dysfunctional movement can develop when your child repeatedly practices sport specific activities over a long period of time; even with a good base of movement and stability can begin to erode leaving your child to develop movement dysfunction later on making him or her prone to life-long injuries.

FMS: Functional Movement Screen

The FMS principal is simple; “screen movement patterns before you train them”. Training with poor movement patterns in place reinforces poor quality output and creates a greater risk of injury. We use the functional movement screen as a starting point or base for all massages and corrective exercise programs. And  as a way to see if we are moving in the right direction with your training the FMS can be used a marker to recheck movement patterns . The FMS should not be looked at as a one-time screen; re-checking movement patterns efficiency to see how your child is dealing with the training stresses that are imposed on him or her is essential.

These principals are taken from Gray Cook’s best-selling book titled, Movement“. Keep in mind that these 3 categories can directly influence each other as well, for instance; a traumatic injury can alter movement patterns that eventually become acquired dysfunctional patterns. In this case the pain may be gone but a compensating dysfunctional movement pattern is now ingrained through a change in the motor control system that becomes the new normal.

1) Development dysfunction:

When your children participate in higher level skilled sports with compromised or undeveloped movement patterns, as they become teens and eventually adults the sports will become their source of pain and dysfunction. And may eventually affect their daily routine. Any activity repetitively practiced such as pitching, running, kicking or swinging a bat or golf club without a sound athletic base can slow or alter normal functional movements later on in life making your child prone to injuries.

2) Traumatic dysfunction:

Traumatic dysfunction is thought for the most part to be a single event or cause but what most people do not consider is that trauma can also be the effect of poor posture, inflexible joints or poorly developed muscles.

Without basic fundamental movement, a traumatic event is waiting right around the corner. During poverty your kids will develop at an astounding rate and if they are practicing the same movements day in and day out, they must give consideration to allow their joints, ligaments, and muscles time to heal.

Tissue damage from an initial injury can cause movement problems long after the injury has healed. Inflammation, swelling and joint immobility can compromise neuromuscular coordination, timing and control. When pain is present your body will develop stiffness as a survival instinct and avoid certain motions or actions completely. It will never heal properly this way.

3) Acquired dysfunction:

Acquired dysfunction can be viewed in 2 ways:

  1. Unnatural activity repeated on a natural movement base.
  2. Natural activity repeated on an unnatural movement base.

Unnatural activity repeated on a natural movement base

Pitching, throwing and kicking are all natural movements but its the repetitiveness of the activity that causes unnatural muscle imbalances, postural changes that eventually lead to pain. The best way to counteract these muscle imbalances is to implement a counter-balancing muscle building program that includes corrective exercises and stretches.

And this unnatural activity is not just sport related; sitting of course is a very natural activity but the long periods that your kids sit at a desk, watch TV and playing video games is not natural. The spine,  hips and neck muscles are in constant flexion when sitting. Prolonged sitting without counter-balancing extension exercises will result in musculosketeletal pain.

Natural activity repeated on a unnatural movement base

Its not uncommon for your kids to blame outside factors (just like adults) for their pain and discomfort, but it is not the activity. The activity gets the blame when it should be the poor muscular foundation from which the activity was placed on; that should get the real blame.

Its a lack of mobility and stability from preexisting movement problems and limitations that cause your kids to compensate while performing basic everyday activities. Attempting to workout and train your way out of it without addressing some fundamental movements patterns will only lead, your kids to doing more compensated movements.

Get Your Kids Screened For Free (valued at $40)

Being a dad of two little ones himself, Robert Vignoli is concerned about the high-level activity and training that your kids are pushed to these days. Most of your kids are not paying enough attention to flexibility/posture, stability or control but continue to train. As a parent, you should be informed and concerned! After your kids are screened depending on how you want to continue Robert will design a corrective action plan for your child to address the biggest concerns.


“Movement; Functional Movement System” Gray Cook


Speak Your Mind