Association of the Functional Movement Screen™ with match-injury burden in men's community rugby union

Evidence supporting use of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS (TM)) to identify athletes' risk of injury is equivocal. Furthermore, few studies account for exposure to risk during analysis. This study investigated the association of FMS (TM) performance with incidence and burden of match-injuries in adult community rugby players. 277 players performed the FMS (TM) during pre-season and in-season time-loss injuries and match exposure were recorded. The associations between FMS (TM) score, pain, and movement-pattern asymmetries with match-injury incidence (>= 8-days time-loss/1000hours), severe match-injury incidence (>28-days time-loss/1000hours), and match-injury burden (total time-loss days/1000hours for >= 8-days match-injuries) were analysed using Poisson regression. Multivariate analysis indicated players with pain and movement-pattern asymmetry during pre-season had 2.9 times higher severe match-injury incidence (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 0.9-9.7) and match-injury burden (RR, 90%CI = 2.9, 1.3-6.6). Players with a typically low FMS (TM) score (mean - 1SD threshold) were estimated to have a 50% greater match-injury burden compared to players with a typically high FMS (TM) score (mean + 1SD threshold) as match-injury burden was 10% lower per 1-unit increase in FMS (TM) score. As the strongest association with injury outcome was found for players with pain and asymmetry, when implementing the FMS (TM) it is advisable to prioritise these players for further assessment and subsequent treatment.