What Happens During a Movement Assessment at Niche?
How to Prepare for Your Movement Assessment
Before your first movement assessment at Niche, here are a few things to know about your session and what to expect before you arrive at the studio. Since every body and every goal is different, your assessment will be uniquely tailored to you - meaning no two sessions are exactly alike!
A movement assessment is either a 30 minute or 50 minute session designed to help you better understand your body and how it moves. Sessions are ideal for any client at Niche looking to identify movement limitations, discuss specific movement patterns that may be holding you back in class or to simply gain a deeper understanding of your body and how it works. The goal when walking away from your movement assessment session is to have gained a deeper understanding of how your body works and practical knowledge you can apply in class, or another private and everyday life.
A few days prior to your movement assessment, be on the look out for an email from Taylor Inman as an introduction to ask a few questions prior to when we meet at the studio to discuss your goals, movement history and any areas of specific pain or concern. Your response to these questions, help to tailor the experience to meet your specific needs and create a session that’s both personalized and supportive to meet your goals.
What to Expect During a Movement Assessment
When you arrive at the studio, you’ll be greeted by Taylor Inman, where you’ll take a few moments to chat and review your goals and questions prior to your assessment. From there, you’ll begin your personalized movement assessment!
Generally, your assessment will include both a static and dynamic assessment of your mobility.
Static Assessment: We’ll take a look at your posture and alignment from head to toe; including head position, shoulder height/rotation, rib flare, spinal curvature, breathing pattern, pelvic positioning, knee hyperextension, weight distribution, and foot arches.
Dynamic Assessment: We’ll then explore how your body moves through functional mobility patterns and tests which will be the bulk of your session. These may include (but not limited to) spinal mobility, squats, lunges, rotations, scapular mobility and single leg balance. We’ll move through various positions including standing, seated, supine, side-lying and prone as needed.
The dynamic assessment portion of your movement assessment is where we can get very specific into addressing your concerns and limitations with a focus on mobility, stability and control. Throughout the assessment, we’ll use what we learn to better understand how your body moves and identify ways to help you feel stronger and more confident in your movement.
For example, if you’re coming into your movement assessment with questions regarding back pain and how to make squats more accessible, we’ll spend more time looking at your core engagement, glute activation and squat form. If you’re coming into your movement assessment with questions regarding shoulder discomfort with planks, we’ll spend more time looking at your scapular mobility, upper body/spinal range of motion, core engagement and plank form. If you’re coming into your movement assessment with the goal of starting a new exercise routine and want a baseline understanding of how your body moves, we’ll spend more time on common movement patterns seen in class and everyday life like squatting, overhead reaching and planks.
You don’t need to be in pain or have specific discomforts to benefit from a movement assessment, many clients also use these sessions as a check in to ensure they are completing exercises safely and effectively while in the class setting. Within your movement assessment, we will have access to the mat, reformer and strength equipment, so if there is a specific exercise that has been troubling you in a class or a movement that is challenging to feel the muscle activation that is intended, bring that to our session and let’s break it down together!
What to Expect After Your Movement Assessment
Following your personalized session, the goal is for every client to leave with a deeper and clearer understanding of how their body works and feel confident while doing so. That may include exercise modifications to improve form and reduce discomfort, recommendations for private sessions or classes, and strategies to make your experience at Niche more accessible and supportive to your individual needs.
Every body is different, which means every movement assessment planned specifically for you. Your assessment is designed around your individual goals and needs - helping you build confidence, understand your body and learn how to train in a way that feels good and supports you safely, both inside and outside the Niche studio.
