Functional Movement Screen Score by Somatotype Category

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a tool used by fitness and health professionals to assess the quality of movement patterns in active populations. The literature has established descriptive values of functional movement screen score in various populations. However there has not yet been a study establishing the descriptive values of FMS score based on the somatotype categories. Establishing these descriptive values mayprovide a better understanding of how an individual’s somatotype affects their ability to move. PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to establish descriptive data values for FMS scores for the four simplified somatotype categories (normal, endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph). METHODS: Participants were all healthy college students between the ages of 18-25 years old (male = 29, female = 52, age = 20.48 yrs ± 1.44, height = 170.46 cm ± 10.26, weight = 67.22 kg ± 16.06). Ten basic anthropometric measures were taken on each of the participants to determine somatotype category according to the Heath-Carter Somatotype Method. Following the initial measurements each of the participants completed the FMS evaluation,which consisted of 7 functional movement patterns. Movement patterns were scored (by a certified FMS tester) using the 3-point scale. RESULTS: Of the 83 participants, participants were identified as follows: 33 mesomorphs, 16 endomorphs, 8 ectomorphs, 24 as central, and 2 were dropped from study for falsifying information. There was no significant difference between mean overall FMS scores for each category (endomorph 17.63±1.09, mesomorph 17.64±1.11, ectomorph 17.63 ± 1.06, central 17.58 ± 1.25). CONCLUSION: In the case of healthy young adults there appears to be very little variance in overall FMS scores between the four simplified somatotype categories. Supported by Grand Valley State University Presidential Grant