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What Is Functional Movement Screening? How MotionTrack6 Supports Workplace Decisions
Understand what functional movement screening measures, how it differs from job demands analysis and where MotionTrack6 fits in workplace decisions.
Quick answer: Functional movement screening looks at how an individual moves, while a Job Task Analysis documents what the job requires. Used together, these two perspectives can help organizations make more informed decisions about job matching, pre-employment processes, return to work and proactive workforce support.
- Assess the person and the job as two separate but connected questions.
- Use MotionTrack6 to evaluate six standardized movements with camera-based technology.
- Combine movement information with objective job demands rather than relying on assumptions about fit.
What is functional movement screening in the workplace?
Most workplace safety programs spend significant time understanding the environment. What is sometimes less visible is the way individual workers move within that environment.
Functional movement screening provides organizations with another perspective. Rather than evaluating the job itself, movement screening evaluates how an individual performs specific movements. At Longitude6, MotionTrack6 provides a technology-enabled approach to functional movement screening.
Functional movement screening vs Job Task Analysis
This distinction is important. A Job Task Analysis asks: What does the job require? A functional movement screen asks: How does this individual move?
Neither replaces the other. Together, however, they can provide significantly more context. A physically demanding job may require frequent squatting, reaching or lifting. Understanding those job demands is important. Understanding how individuals perform fundamental movement patterns can provide another piece of information for workplace health professionals.
How technology makes functional screening scalable
Traditional movement assessments may require specialized equipment or significant clinician time. Technology can simplify the process by guiding individuals through standardized movements while capturing objective information.
This creates opportunities for organizations to incorporate movement screening into broader programs without turning every assessment into a lengthy clinical evaluation. Depending on the organization, screening may support employee education, wellness initiatives, workforce health programs, prevention strategies, baseline assessments and conversations with qualified health professionals.
How MotionTrack6 supports job matching, hiring, and return to work
The greatest value may come when organizations stop looking at worker information and job information separately. If the physical demands of the job are known through a Job Task Analysis, organizations have one side of the equation. If movement information is available through functional screening, they have another.
Ergonomic assessment can then evaluate how the work environment contributes to the interaction between the person and the job. That combination creates a much richer understanding of workplace health.
How screening fits into a broader injury prevention program
MotionTrack6 is one of several technologies available through Longitude6. Rather than relying on one assessment method, organizations can select the tools that best answer the questions they are trying to solve.
Workplace movement screening should always be implemented appropriately and within relevant employment, privacy and regulatory requirements.
See how MotionTrack6 can add objective movement information to your workplace screening process.
Frequently asked questions
What is functional movement screening?
Functional movement screening evaluates how a person performs standardized movements to provide information about mobility, movement limitations and asymmetries that may be relevant to workplace decisions.
What movements does MotionTrack6 assess?
MotionTrack6 assesses six movements: back flexion, back extension, shoulder abduction, shoulder flexion, shoulder external rotation and squat.
Is functional movement screening the same as a Job Task Analysis?
No. Functional screening evaluates the person. A Job Task Analysis evaluates the job. The two can be used together when an organization needs to understand both capability and demand.
Where can functional movement screening be used?
Use cases can include pre-employment screening, job matching, return-to-work support and proactive injury prevention programs, depending on the organization's process and requirements.
Turn insight into action.
See how MotionTrack6 can add objective movement information to your workplace screening process.