•  
  •  
 

THE ABILITY OF THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREENING TO PREDICT FUTURE SOFT TISSUE INJURIES IN COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

Kurt W. McDowell, Alan B. Miller, Ryan J. Johnson, Ben M. Fox, Jason D. Wagganer. Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO; e-mail: kwmcdowell1s@semo.edu

The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) was created in 1995 to gather information on movement patterns and use that knowledge to predict future injuries. The majority of past studies indicate an FMS score of <14 as an indicator of a higher chance for soft tissue injury. PURPOSE: Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of pre-season FMS scores, obtained from collegiate football players, to predict in-season soft tissue injuries. METHODS: Division 1 FBS Football players (n=96; Age=20.4+2.6 years) had their FMS scores (14.0+2.5) immediately prior to and all injuries sustained (n=30) during the 2014-2015 season recorded. RESULTS: Final results showed an overall FMS score of <14 as the cutoff for predicting an increased risk for potentially suffering an in-season soft tissue injury, as determined by a ROC Curve (Area = 0.54). Several subtests were significant in predicting injury location, hurdle step (p=.045) and active straight leg raise asymmetry (p=.029), and grade, hurdle step (p=.029) and hurdle step asymmetry (p=.007). CONCLUSION: While the ROC Curve produced a similar cut-off point for the total FMS score as past research, the area under the curve for this study was not strong. However, more favorably than total FMS score, a few subtests showed the potential ability to indicate different grades and locations of injuries. Nearly half the players who had a hurdle step asymmetry (n=12) and half of whom scored a one in hurdle step (n=5) had injuries that prevented football related activities for more than 3 weeks. The players who exhibited active straight leg raise asymmetry (n=14) later experienced either a lower leg/ankle injury (n=3) or an upper extremity injury (n=4). In conclusion, the ROC Curve exhibited a weak area under the curve for accurately predicting a soft tissue injury risk cut off point for total FMS score. However, individual FMS subtests showed significance in potentially predicting future soft tissue injuries. It is important to note that since football is a collision based sport, unmeasurable confounding variables can significantly skew the ability of the FMS to accurately predict future soft tissue injury risk.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS