Influence of Body Composition on Functional Movement Among Police Officers

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Sports Medicine
• Biomechanics

Background:

• Functional Movement Screen (FMS) assesses movement quality and injury risk in tactical roles.
• Body composition is linked to chronic disease in police officers, but its effect on functional movement is unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• Examine the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) on functional movement.
• Determine the predictive significance of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) for functional movement in police officers.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 35 active-duty police officers (31 male, 4 female).
• Collected demographic data, BMI, FM, FFM, and FMS composite score (FMS CS).
• Utilized ANCOVA and linear regression, controlling for age.

Main Results:

• BMI category did not significantly affect FMS CS (p = 0.077).
• FM and FFM explained 36.9% of the variance in FMS CS (p < 0.001).
• FM significantly predicted FMS CS (p < 0.001), while FFM did not (p = 0.111).

Conclusions:

• Body composition management is crucial for police officers' health and functional movement.
• Fat mass is a key predictor of functional movement quality in this population.