Examining the relationship between functional movement screen (FMS) and computerized BESS scores and lower extremity injury risk in a cohort of female intercollegiate athletes
Date
2016
Authors
Agbese, Onazi O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The number of female athletes participating in sport has risen substantially over the past 30 years. The rise in participation has translated into a parallel rise in injuries, especially those associated with overuse. Injury prevention and improved performance are paramount in the minds of sports health care professionals and strength and conditioning specialists; so finding ways to identify injury risk has gained increased attention in recent years. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between lower extremity injury and performance on both the modified Functional Movement Screen, (FMS) Standard FMS, and computerized Balance Error Scoring System (BESS). Data from a large prospective study was extracted for this project. Specifically, data from a cohort of female student-athletes participating in 5 high risk sports of Basketball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, and Volleyball was derived and analyzed using Receiver Operant Characteristic (ROC). A modified-FMS score was developed from four of the seven FMS tests completed as a part of baseline testing. These 4 tests include the Deep Squat, Hurdle Step, In-Line Lunge, and the Active Straight Leg Raise, with a total possible score of 12. BESS scores were derived from the MobileMat™ BESS from Tekscan (Tekscan, South Boston, MA). The total BESS error score across all 6 testing conditions was used in the correlational analysis. Injuries occurring as a result of participation in their respective sport were monitored using SportsWare On-Line (SWOL) injury tracking software (Computer Sports Medicine, Inc. Stoughton, MA). Lower extremity injury served as the independent variable in this project, while the scores from the FMS methods along with the total BESS error score served as the dependent variables. Overall 20 athletes sustained an injury in our cohort, with the means between the injured and non-injured groups for the three dependent variables being FMS-4 (8.1±1.1 and 8.0±1.2), FMS-7 (15.4±1.3 and 15.0±1.6), and BESS (18.6±4.5 and 17.4±5.3) respectively. There were no significant findings in our ROC analysis. The area under the curve for our three methods was FMS-4 (.510), FMS-7 (.567), and BESS (.577), indicating no useful diagnostic capability for any of the three variables for lower extremity injury. Despite some previous reports indicating injury prediction capabilities for the FMS, our finding do not support the usefulness of such a tool in our cohort of female student-athletes. Although the BESS has demonstrated some utility in the management of sport-related concussions, its ability to predict lower extremity injury is minimal.