Citation

O'Connor FG, Deuster PA, Davis J, Pappas CG, Knapik JJ. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2011; 43(12): 2224-2230.

Affiliation

1Uniformed Services University, Consortium for Health and Military Performance, Bethesda, MD 2Department of Family Medicine, Womack Army Community Hospital, Fort Bragg, North Carolina 3Public Health Command (Prov), Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1249/MSS.0b013e318223522d

PMID

21606876

Abstract

PURPOSE:: Functional movement screening (FMS) is a musculoskeletal assessment method that incorporates seven movements and yields an overall score based on movement quality. The objective of this study was to document the distribution of scores and determine if FMS scores could predict injury in a large military cohort. METHODS:: A cohort of 874 Marine officer candidates were recruited, consented, completed demographic questionnaires, and had FMS performed during medical in-processing. Candidates were enrolled in either long cycle (LC: 68 days; n=427) or short cycle (SC: 38 days; n=447) training and followed for injuries occurring in training. RESULTS:: The mean FMS score (score range=0-21) among all candidates was 16.6 ± 1.7; approximately 10% of candidates had FMS scores ≤ 14. A score of ≤14 on the FMS predicted any injury with a sensitivity of 0.45 and a specificity of 0.71 and serious injury with a sensitivity of 0.12 and a specificity of 0.94. Both LC and SC cohorts demonstrated higher injury risk among candidates who had scores ≤14 compared to those with scores >14 (LC: risk ratio (RR)=1.65 (95% CI=1.05 -2.59 p= 0.03); SC: RR=1.91 (95% CI=1.21-3.01 p<0.01). Overall, 79.8% of persons with scores ≤14 were in the group with fitness scores <280 (out of 300) whereas only 6.6% of candidates in the group with fitness scores ≥ 280 had scores ≤14. CONCLUSION:: This was the first large-scale study performed in an active duty military cohort to examine the utility of FMS during medical in-processing. Further work is warranted to evaluate FMS and the potential for injury prediction and prevention.

Language: en