Association between the functional movement screen and injury development in college athletes

As the number of sports participants continues to rise, so does the number of sports injuries. Establishing a valid method of identifying athletes at elevated risk for injury could lead to intervention programs that lower injury rates and improve overall athlete performance. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS)™ is an efficient and reliable method to screen movement patterns during the performance of specific tasks. The purpose of this study is to explore the association between pre-season FMS TM scores and the development of injury in a population of collegiate athletes.

Descriptive epidemiology study.

FMS™ scores were obtained for 160 collegiate athletes and injury development was tracked throughout the season. These athletes were both male and female and participated in contact and non-contact sports. Redundancies were utilized with injury data collection, including medical record reviews and interviews with team athletic trainers, to ensure that all injuries requiring medical attention were captured. At the conclusion of the season, a logistic regression analysis was performed to determine which combination of factors best predicted injury.

Athletes with an FMS™ composite score at 14 or below combined with a self-reported past history of injury were at 15 times increased risk of injury. A positive likelihood ratio of 5.8 was calculated which improved the probability of predicting injury from 33% pretest to 74% posttest.

This study adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating a predictive relationship between FMS™ composite scores and past history of injury with the development of future injury.

3, Non-random prospective cohort design.