Screening

[PatrickMaughan]

Does anyone have any experience of using a screen to identify risk of lower back injuries? Particularly for use in youth team sport athletes.
I was thinking something along the lines of a lumbar extension hold but interested if anyone has any experience with this.

[Jarred_Marsh]

I've had experience utilising the Functional Movement Screen. I prefer this using this, in a youth setting, as some research has shown that repetitive assessment via the FMS can actually lead to patient bias and allow the patient to "learn" how to better their scoring. This means that in a youth setting motor function may not be as receptive as in more mature populations and therefore the youth patients may be more receptive to producing sensitive/unbiased results.

The FMS has a Lumbar-Pelvic-Hip component (e.g. seated lumbar rotation) and should show any restrictions/imbalances. Due to lower back pain being multi-factoral I also like the Straight Leg Raise as part of the FMS.

There are many other assessments out there, so try a few and see what works for you.