By Randall Cooper, Sports & Exercise Physiotherapist
You’ve probably heard of musculoskeletal screening. Maybe you’ve even done one—overhead squats, single-leg balances, someone checking how your knees track when you lunge.
So, are they useful? Or are they just another box-ticking exercise?
That’s what we unpack in Episode 3 of Exercise Matters.
🎧 Listen to the full episode here
Here’s what a screen actually does
It’s not a diagnosis. It’s not treatment. It’s a check-up for how your body moves.
It looks at:
- Past injuries
- Joint mobility and control
- Functional movement—squat, lunge, jump, land
- Sport-specific demands (shoulder range in swimmers, for example)
At the elite level, you’ll see tech—force plates, motion capture, EMG. But for most people, a well-structured screen by a physio does the job.
Who’s it for?
Not just elite athletes.
Weekend warriors, junior athletes, runners, lifters, anyone who trains regularly—if you want to avoid injuries or improve how you move, screening is worth doing.
For kids who are still growing, I’d suggest every year. For adults, every couple of years is enough—unless you’ve had an injury or something’s feeling off.
Does it prevent injuries?
Not by itself.
Screening shows where your weak spots are—poor balance, tight hips, dodgy jump mechanics. But unless you do something with that information, nothing changes.
The value is in the follow-up: prehab exercises, strength training, better movement strategies. That’s where the injury reduction happens.
Programs like the FIFA 11+ were built off screening data—and they’ve been shown to lower injury rates across the board.
Screening, prehab, and prevention programs—what’s the difference?
This gets confused a lot:
- Screening = find the issue
- Prehab = fix the issue with tailored exercises
- Injury prevention programs = team-wide strategies like warm-up routines
They all matter. But a screen without follow-up? It’s a wasted opportunity.
So is it worth doing?
Yes—if you take it seriously.
Done properly, a musculoskeletal screen helps you train smarter, catch problems early, and stay in the game longer. It’s not about finding the perfect body—it’s about knowing your own and working with it.
