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Hotta T.1, Aoyama T.2
1Yukioka Hospital, Department of Rehabilitation, Osaka, Japan, 2Kyoto University, Department of Physical Therapy, Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
Background: Most sprinters in track and field events suffer from injuries. The functional movement screen (FMS) is a screening tool for injury risk that assesses the movement patterns of individuals, which can comprehensively evaluate mobility and stability. The validity of the FMS as a predictor of injury risk for athletes has been confirmed in previous studies. However, no prospective cohort studies have investigated the association between the FMS and running injuries in sprinters.
Purpose: To investigate whether the FMS could predict running injuries in male collegiate sprinters.
Methods: In total, 81 male collegiate sprinters (average age, 19.9 ± 1.0 years) participated in the study. All participants underwent the FMS, which consisted of 7 movement tests (individual score range: 03, total score range: 021), during the pre-season. The incidence of running injuries (time lost because of injury for more than 1 day) was investigated through a follow-up survey during the 6-month season. Students t-test was used to investigate whether the FMS was significantly associated with running injuries. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the cutoff.
Results: Among the 81 subjects, 61 (75.3%) experienced running injuries during the season. The mean FMS composite scores were 14.8 ± 2.3 and 13.9 ± 2.7 for subjects with and without injury, respectively
(p = 0.14), suggesting that the FMS had a low predictability for running injuries. However, the mean FMS composite scores were 13.0 ± 2.8 and 14.7 ± 2.3 for subjects with, and without foot and ankle injury, respectively (p = 0.04). The ROC analysis determined the cutoff at 13/14 (sensitivity = 0.67,
specificity = 0.78).
Conclusion(s): The current study showed that the FMS can predict foot and ankle injuries, but not other injuries, in male collegiate sprinters.
Implications: This study shows that the FMS is a useful tool for screening injury risk in sprinters; however, it is not a versatile tool. Studies to establish methods to predict other injuries such as muscle strain, which is one of the most serious problem faced by sprinters, are warranted. The findings of this study may assist both athletes and health professionals in injury prevention.
Funding acknowledgements: None
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Ethics approval: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kyoto University (Approval No. E2023).
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
