Musculo-skeletal screening –

a tennis perspective

Musculo-skeletal screening is a process designed to identify biomechanical faults in an athlete prior to them resulting in an injury.  It is an assessment performed by a physiotherapist which covers all major joints, muscles, and nerves. 

Musculo-skeletal screening is performed regularly at an elite level of sport, but is becoming more prevalent at semi-elite and social levels.  The goal of the screen is to identify factors that may lead to an injury, but quite often the biomechanical correction has a positive impact on the players performance. 

For screening to be effective, it must be sport specific.  That is, a tennis screen would have a different focus to a swimming screen.  For example, both sports involve high stress through the shoulder joint, however, the tennis screen would require a much more detailed assessment of the knee joint. 

The physiotherapists at Ascend Physiotherapy are all experienced in musculo-skeletal screening.  The physiotherapists are all WAIS preferred providers, and currently have affiliations with teams such as WA Netball, Perth Orioles, WAIS, High Performance Artistic Gymnastics, Hockeyroos and State 18's football. 

Ascend's wall of fame

Click here to see an example of a report from a musculo-skeletal screen performed by Ascend Physiotherapy. 

For more information on screening, please contact Ascend Physiotherapy (located within Challenge Stadium, Mt Claremont .Perth Australia) on (08) 9387 2699 or email info@ascendphysio.com.au