Assessment of the functional movement screen and injuries in gymnasts

Abstract

Objective: To identify possible differences in movement quality through the functional movement screen (FMS) between injured and non-injured adolescent acrobatic gymnasts in the last season. Method: descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional study involving 20 adolescent female gymnasts divided into two groups, one composed of 9 gymnasts who had suffered an injury in the last season (14,7±1,56) and the other composed of 11 gymnasts who had not suffered any injury (13,9±2,25). The FMS battery was used, consisting of seven tests: deep squat, hurdle step, in-line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk stability in push-ups, trunk rotational stability. Results: Of the nine gymnasts who had sustained an injury, 66.6% were located in the lower limb, ankles and knees. The results of the total functional assessment of FMS using the Mann Whitney U statistic for independent samples showed no statistically significant differences between groups (Z = -.393; p > 0.05), with the average range of FMS being similar in both cases (10.05 and 11.06 in injured and non-injured gymnasts respectively). It also showed the absence of significant differences in each of the tests of the battery, and no relationship was found through Spearman’s R statistic, between the overall FMS score and the group of injured gymnasts. Conclusion: The results of the FMS total score were slightly higher in gymnasts who were not injured last season, as well as slightly better in all the lower body tests, hence the FMS can be used as a preventive programmed to detect possible deficiencies.