Performance of high school male athletes on the Functional Movement Screen™
Laura J Smith1, James R Creps1, Ryan Bean1
1University of Michigan-Flint, 2157 William S. White Building, 303 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, MI 48502-1950 United States.
Objectives:
(1) Describe the performance of the Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) by reporting the proportion of adolescents with a score of ≤14 and the frequency of asymmetries in a cross-sectional sample; (2) explore associations between FMS™ to age and body mass, and explore the construct validity of the FMS™ against common postural stability measures; (3) examine the inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the FMS™ in adolescents.
Design:
Cross-sectional.
Setting:
Field-setting.
Participants:
94 male high-school athletes.
Main Outcome Measure:
The FMS™, Y-Balance Test (YBT) and Balance Error Scoring System (BESS).
Results:
The median FMS™ composite score was 16 (9-21), 33% of participants scored below the suggested injury risk cutoff composite score of ≤14, and 62.8% had at least one asymmetry. No relationship was observed between the FMS™ to common static/dynamic balance tests. The inter-rater reliability of the FMS™ composite score suggested good reliability (ICC = 0.88, CI 95%:0.77, 0.94) and test-retest reliability for FMS™ composite scores was good with ICC = 0.83 (CI 95%:0.56, 0.95).
Conclusions:
FMS™ results should be interpreted cautiously with attention to the asymmetries identified during the screen, regardless of composite score. The lack of relationship between the FMS™ and other balance measures supports the notion that multiple screening tests should be used in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the adolescent athlete.
