The Effectiveness of a Functional Movement Assessment and 4-Week Exercise Training Program for Female High School Athletes.

Abstract

Boucher, BK, Rich, AJ, Gobert, D, Gardner, B, Metzner, P, King, C, and Buse, M. The effectiveness of a functional movement assessment and 4-week exercise training program for female high school athletes. J Strength Cond Res 35(1): 102-110, 2021-The extent to which young females participate in school-sponsored athletics has grown significantly over the past 2 decades. The number of females in high school sports increased for the 25th consecutive year in 2012-2013, reaching an all-time record. Unfortunately, sports-related injury rates for female athletes have also continued to rise. A body of research exists to suggest that dysfunctional movement may be linked to increased risk of injury, and training programs designed to improve movement patterns are effective to both enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury. Effective training programs incorporate corrective exercises to retrain dysfunctional movement patterns. The Functional Movement ScreenTM (FMSTM) is a tool developed to assess 7 fundamental movement patterns. The FMSTM has been used extensively with a wide range of athletes at various levels of performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a movement-training program with female high school athletes using the FMSTM. The overall purpose was to assess the effectiveness of a 4-week corrective exercise-training program at improving FMSTM scores. Data analysis using Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed a statistically significant change in total group FMSTM scores (Z = -2.214, p = 0.027) after the corrective exercise-training program. Mean total group FMSTM scores increased from 14.43 ± 1.90 (pretest) to 17.29 ± 1.38 (posttest). Findings suggest that positive outcomes to a corrective exercise-training program, which targets specific movement impairments, can be achieved in a relatively short period of time.