Functional Movement Screen: Single Items For Injury Prediction Of Physical Education And Exercise Science Students.

Abstract

Screening tools for the individual risk of injury in athletes have gained high popularity lately. Not only professional athletes, but also college students are in need for cost efficient and quick screening tools to allow targeted injury prevention. The applicability of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) as a valid screening tool for injury prediction among various populations has been evaluated in several studies. Most studies have drawn their conclusions from the composite score. Only a few studies have examined the validity of single items for injury prediction. In addition, gender differences have only been taken into account to a limited extent. PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to determine the applicability of the FMS composite score and its seven single items for the sex-specific prediction of injury among German physical education and exercise science students. METHODS: Overall, N = 99 physical active college students (female: 53, male: 46) between 18-29 years of age were recruited. All participants performed a FMS at the beginning of two consecutive semesters. All injuries were recorded monthly for the entire semester. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and area under the curve (AUC) were used to estimate an optimal cut-off score for females and males separately and to assess the ability of the FMS sum score to predict an injury. Logistic regression analysis was utilized to assess odds ratios for the chance of injury related to single items of the FMS. RESULTS: The ROC curves indicated moderate ability in the injury prediction for women (AUC: 0.66, p= 0.02) and poor injury prediction for men (AUC: 0.40, p= 0.19). However no satisfying cut-off score could be determined for any gender due to poor sensitivity and specificity. The logistic regressions revealed the Deep Squat (DS) to be significant for women (p= 0.03, OR= 0.2). CONCLUSION: The FMS is frequently cited as a useful screening tool for subsequent injury. In this regard, cut-off values are used to identify persons at high risk for injury. The DS was the only significant single item for women in this study, but had no strong prediction effect. Results of this study cannot provide solid gender-specific recommendations for the use of the FMS composite score or single items as an injury screening tool for German physical education and sports science students.