Does Sex Dimorphism Exist in Dysfunctional Movement Patterns during the Sensitive Period of Adolescence?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate sex difference in the functional movement in the adolescent period. Seven hundred and thirty adolescents (365 boys) aged 16–17 years participated in the study. The participants performed standardized Functional Movement Screen™ (FMSTM) protocol and a t-test was used to examine sex differences in the total functional movement screen score, while the chi-square test was used to determine sex differences in the proportion of dysfunctional movement and movement asymmetries within the individual FMSTM tests. Girls demonstrated higher total FMSTM score compared to boys (12.7 ± 2.3 and 12.2 ± 2.4, respectively; p = 0.0054). Sex differences were present in several individual functional movement patterns where boys demonstrated higher prevalence of dysfunctional movement compared to girls in patterns that challenge mobility and flexibility of the body (inline lunge: 32% vs. 22%, df = 1, p = 0.0009; shoulder mobility: 47% vs. 26%, df = 1, p < 0.0001; and active straight leg raise: 31% vs. 9%, df = 1, p < 0.0001), while girls underperformed in tests that have higher demands for upper-body strength and abdominal stabilization (trunk stability push-up: 81% vs. 44%, df = 1, p < 0.0001; and rotary stability: 54% vs. 44%, df = 1, p = 0.0075). Findings of this study suggest that sex dimorphisms exist in functional movement patterns in the period of mid-adolescence. The results of this research need to be considered while using FMSTM as a screening tool, as well as the reference standard for exercise intervention among the secondary school-aged population.

The Assessment of Functional Movement in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…FMS™ Functional Movement Screen™ 3 in the UK [4,50,51], 2 in Croatia [56,57] and a single study each from India [44], Iran [40] and Moldova [54]. Fourteen of the study designs were cross-sectional [4,40,44,[46][47][48][49][51][52][53][54][55][56][57], and a single study each was a cluster randomised controlled trial [45], randomised controlled trial [43], quasi-experimental [41], matched pairs experiment [50], and a single-arm trial [42]. The sample sizes ranged from 20 [42] to > 1000 [44].…”

“…All studies had minimal missing data, and all used the FMS™ assessment tool [2,3], which is reported to be both valid and reliable in the assessment of functional movement among the included samples. The majority of studies (89%; 17/19 studies) examined potential correlates [4,40,41,[43][44][45][46][47][48][49][51][52][53][54][55][56][57] in a valid and reliable manner.…”

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

“…Of the available studies, some include both boys and girls [32,40,41,44 Of the studies that included both boys and girls, some studies have not reported sex differences in the FMS [57,77,78,82]. Other studies have reported no significant differences in the FMS scores between boys and girls [36,38,41,44,48,49,58,62,63,76,81,83,86,87,[89][90][91]93,99,103,110]. Fewer studies have reported that girls perform better than boys [32,40,45,54,55,59,88,108] and even fewer studies report that boys perform better than girls [107,111].…”

“…Functional Movement. A functional movement implies an optimal range of motion (flexibility of the soft tissue and mobility of the joints), balance, and neuromotor postural control of the body regions involved in the specific movement [ 34 , 35 , 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Dysfunctional Movement . Suboptimal movement quality characterized by compensatory movement along the kinetic chain, observed asymmetry, and loss of range of motion, balance, posture, and motor control of the specific movement [ 34 , 35 , 40 , 41 ].…”