Can the Functional Movement Screen™ be used to capture changes in spine and knee motion control following 12 weeks of training?

OBJECTIVE

To examine whether objective measures of spine and frontal plane knee motion exhibited during Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS) task performance changed following a movement-guided fitness (MOV) and conventional fitness (FIT) exercise intervention.

DESIGN

Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled experiment. Before and after 12 weeks of exercise, participants' kinematics were quantified while performing the FMS and a series of general whole-body movement tasks.

SETTING

Biomechanics laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-two firefighters were assigned to MOV, FIT, or a control (CON) group.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Peak lumbar spine flexion/extension, lateral bend and axial twist, and frontal plane knee motion.

RESULTS

The post-training kinematic changes exhibited by trainees while performing the FMS tasks were similar in magnitude (effect size < 0.8) to those exhibited by CON. However, when performing the battery of general whole-body movement tasks, only MOV showed significant improvements in spine and frontal plane knee motion control (effect size > 0.5).

CONCLUSIONS

Whether graded qualitatively, or quantitatively via kinematic analyses, the FMS may not be a viable tool to detect movement-based exercise adaptations. Amendments to the FMS tasks and/or scoring method are needed before it can be used for reasons beyond appraising the ability to move freely, symmetrically, and without pain.