Normative Values For The Functional Movement Screentm In Adolescent School Aged Children

Background: International sports programs have established pre-participation athletic screening procedures as an essential component to identify athletes that are at a high risk of becoming injured. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS (TM)) is a screening instrument intended to evaluate deficiencies in the mobility and stability of an athlete that might be linked to injury. To date, there are no published normative values for the FMS (TM) in adolescent school aged children. The purpose of this study was to establish normative values for the FMS (TM) in adolescent school aged children ( 10 to 17 years). Secondary aims were to investigate whether the performance differed between boys and girls and between those with or without previous history of injury.Methods: 1005 adolescent school students, including both males and females between the ages of 10 and 17 years who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were selected for the study. The test administration procedures, instructions and scoring process associated with the standardized version of the test were followed in order to ensure accuracy in scoring. The components of the FMS (TM) include the deep squat, hurdle step, in-line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk stability push up, and rotary stability.Results: The mean composite FMS (TM) score was 14.59 (CI 14.43 - 14.74) out of a possible total of 21. There was a statistically significant difference in scores between females and males (p = .000). But no statistically significant difference in scores existed between those who reported a previous injury and those who did not report previous injury (p = .300). The variables like age (r = - .038, p = .225), height(r = .065, p = .040), weight (r = .103, p = .001) did not show a strong correlations with the mean composite score.Conclusion: This study provides normative values for the FMS (TM) in adolescent school aged children, which could assist in evaluation of functional mobility and stability in this population.