Comparison of Functional Movement Screen, Star Excursion Balance Test, and Physical Fitness in Junior Athletes with Different Sports Injury Risk

Abstract

Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between functional movement screen (FMS), star excursion balance test (SEBT), agility T test, and vertical jump test scores and sports injury risk in junior athletes. We compared these assessments and the differences between groups with high and low risks of sports injury. Subjects and Methods. Eleven volleyball, 12 basketball, and 9 handball athletes were recruited. All participants followed the routine training in school sports teams. Weekly training schedules followed a similar pattern. The 32 junior athletes (age=16.06±0.21 years; height=167.28±6.32 cm; and body mass=68.45±9.67 kg) were assessed using the FMS, SEBT, agility T test, and vertical jump test in random order. The correlations of composite and individual item scores of these assessments were analyzed, and the differences between groups with high and low risks of sports injury were compared. Results. All participants completed the study protocol. No significant differences were observed between FMS, SEBT, agility T test, and vertical jump test scores in groups with high and low risks of sports injuries. Fair and moderate-to-good correlations were observed for anterior reach maximum of SEBT and deep squat (r=0.47, P=0.02) as well as inline lunge (r=0.53, P=0.01) of FMS. The hurdle step of FMS also exhibited moderate-to-good (r=0.52, P=0.01) and fair (r=0.42, P=0.04) correlations with posterior medial and posterior lateral reach maximum of SEBT, respectively. A fair correlation was observed between posterior lateral reach maximum of SEBT and rotary stability of FMS (r=−0.23, P=0.03). Fair and moderate-to-good correlations were identified for agility T test and maximum anterior reach in the SEBT (r=−0.42, P=0.04) and trunk stability push-up in the FMS, respectively (r=−0.57 and P=0.006). Conclusions. Junior athletes with a high risk of sports injury did not exhibit differences in terms of FMS, SEBT, and physical fitness test scores. Deep squat, hurdle step, inline lunge, and rotary stability scores in the FMS were correlated with the item scores in the SEBT, which may be due to the use of similar movement patterns. Scores for anterior reach maximum in the SEBT and trunk stability push-up in the FMS were correlated with agility T test scores, suggesting a similar task requirement of trunk stability and dynamic weight shifting ability.

The Impact of Physical Performance on Functional Movement Screen Scores and Asymmetries in Female University Physical Education Students

“…Chimera et al [20] showed that worse ranges of motion in the hip and knee joints negatively affect the movement patterns quality in a mixed study sample. The same authors [18] also observed that stronger trunk muscles positively influenced the FMS scores. Surprisingly, in our research, a higher score in trunk stability push-up (TSPU) was not directly associated with a better result of the sit-ups, whereas the study by Silva et al [20,21] found links between the trunk stability push-up (TSPU) and the physical fitness of the study group.…”

“…Support for these results can be found in the studies by Campa et al [17]. Chang et al [18] indicated the relationship between a trunk stability push-up with agility t-test result. Sannicandro et al [19] showed a connection between the FMS score and the power of the lower limbs among professional footballers, showing that better quality of movement patterns was associated with greater power of the lower limbs.…”

“…Similar observations also provide studies by Silva et al [21,22] which showed the strength of the trunk muscles as a factor determining the quality of the movement patterns. However, the studies mentioned above [14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] regard men and mixed groups, not focusing only on women and possible sex differences in associations between FMS score and asymmetries with physical performance components. However, Kibler et al [23] proved that women are characterized by greater flexibility compared to men, who, in turn, have greater strength than women.…”

Assessment of Dysfunctional Movements and Asymmetries in Children and Adolescents Using the Functional Movement Screen—A Narrative Review

“…The assumption is that higher levels of movement competency (as represented by higher FMS scores) provides some protection from injury. Contrary to the findings of a threshold FMS score that is predictive of injury rates in adults, the composite FMS score has consistently been found to be a poor predictor of injury rates in young athletes in a variety of sports [43,51,72,79,80,94,[99][100][101][102]107].…”

Big Data and Deep Learning Model for FMS Score Prediction of Aerobics Athletes

“…Functional movement screening [13][14][15] is a test model proposed by American orthopedic training experts in 1996.…”