Relationship between the hip range of motion and functional motor system movement patterns in football players

The aim of this study was to determine the hip range of motion and the movement patterns of football players assessed with an aid of a Functional Motor Systems test, and to find an association between these parameters and the risk for hip joint injury.

The study included 50 men aged between 16 and 20 years: 25 footballers and 25 age- and body mass index-matched controls. The hip ranges of motion (flexion, extension, internal and external rotation, adduction and abduction) were determined, and the movement patterns were evaluated with the tests from the Functional Motor Systems battery.

Football players presented with significantly higher ranges of the hip flexion, extension, internal and external rotation than the controls. Moreover, footballers and controls differed significantly in terms of their mean overall Functional Motor Systems scores (15.77 points ±2.44 vs. 13.79±3.02 points, P=0.019). Football players scored best on the shoulder mobility test for the right side and worst on the rotary stability test for the left side. The scores on the trunk stability test and rotary stability test for the left side were significantly higher in footballers than in the controls. Nevertheless, the overall Functional Motor Systems scores of 14 points or less were recorded in the case of as many as 10/25 footballers.

Altogether, these findings suggest that some football players present with a strain which may predispose them to future injuries. Future research should center around the etiology of reduced hip ROM observed in footballers. Furthermore, football training seems to result in a considerable motor asymmetry of the trunk which also predisposes to injury.