Functional Movement Screen Predicators: Can High FMS Scores be Predicted through Range of Motion, Strength, and Balance Measures?

Abstract

There has been a steady increase in sport participation in the U.S. over the recent years, and with increases in activity comes a rise in the physical demands of sport on the musculoskeletal system. These demands coupled with increased sport activity can yield an increase in the risk of injury. Functional movement occurs in everyday life, and even more so in an athletic population. When these movements are imbalanced or biomechanically inefficient, breaks in the proper kinetic chain of movement will begin to occur. Compensatory movement will follow the bodies physical deficits, so early detection or proper intervention are important. During activity the human body will initiate movement through the path of least resistance; meaning inefficient functional movement can increase chances of acute injury through compensatory musculoskeletal activation or lead to microtrauma through the wear and tear of joint tissues from repeated improper fundamental movement of the musculoskeletal system. If problems exist with one link of the kinetic chain, problems are then carried to the following link; this forces the second link to alter its normal function in the activated kinetic chain. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a movement test that incorporates essential functional movement patterns and categorizes an individual’s efficiency to complete them on an ordinal scale in an attempt to predict an individual’s readiness to safely engage in activity or sport. If outcomes could be predicted using physical measures, health professionals would be able to quickly predict an individual’s score for the FMS. Showing predictive physical measures that test the requirements of an FMS would allow the ability to increase specificity of training programs aimed at increasing functionality. When an individual increases their capability to produce correct functional movement they decrease their risk of injury, so it would be possible that by increasing a programs ability to produce such movement by focusing on deficits in the predictive areas we can decrease their risk for injury. Also, if the FMS were predictable untrained individuals in FMS assessment could assess functionality. To our knowledge no current research has attempted to find predictive measures of performance on a FMS.