Association of the Functional Movement Screen™ with match-injury burden in men's community rugby union

Evidence supporting use of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS^TM) to identify athletes' risk of injury is equivocal. Furthermore, few studies account for exposure to risk during analysis. This study investigated the association of FMS^TM performance with incidence and burden of match-injuries in adult community rugby players. 277 players performed the FMS^TM during pre-season and in-season time-loss injuries and match exposure were recorded. The associations between FMS^TM score, pain, and movement-pattern asymmetries with match-injury incidence (≥8-days time-loss/1000hours), severe match-injury incidence (>28-days time-loss/1000hours), and match-injury burden (total time-loss days/1000hours for ≥8-days match-injuries) were analysed using Poisson regression. Multivariate analysis indicated players with pain and movement-pattern asymmetry during pre-season had 2.9 times higher severe match-injury incidence (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 0.9-9.7) and match-injury burden (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 1.3-6.6). Players with a typically low FMS^TM score (mean - 1SD threshold) were estimated to have a 50% greater match-injury burden compared to players with a typically high FMS^TM score (mean + 1SD threshold) as match-injury burden was 10% lower per 1-unit increase in FMS^TM score. As the strongest association with injury outcome was found for players with pain and asymmetry, when implementing the FMS^TM it is advisable to prioritise these players for further assessment and subsequent treatment.