FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREENING AS A PREDICTOR OF INJURY IN HIGHLY TRAINED FEMALE'S MARTIAL ARTS ATHLETES

Objective. This research examines the emerging role of FMS (TM) in the context of predicting lower extremity injury in females University athletes. The secondary purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between FMS performance comparisons between three martial arts sports to establish baseline comparisons. Method. Forty-seven university female athletes were recruited for this study, The data collected was separated into three groups based on their sports discipline (judo N=17 age: 19 +/- 4, wrestling N=15 age: 18 +/- 5, karate N=15 age: 19 +/- 3), Independent t-tests were performed on each group with significance being set at P<0.05 to determine difference in FMS (TM) scores between injured and non injured athletes during the successive competitive seasons. One-way analyses of variances were used to determine if there was a significant difference between sports, 'body parts injured' groups, and 'mechanisms of injury' groups. Results. One-way analysis of variance revealed no statistically significant difference between the two (ankle, knee) injury groups, and non-injury group (F2,54= 2.34; p=0.106). There was no statistical difference between the pre-season FMS (TM) scores of the injured and non-injured groups (t47 = -1.68; P=.100; d=0.52; 95%CI: -0.11, 1.15). Finally, strong evidence of FMS score was found when comparing the three sports with one-way ANOVAs (F=5.83, df= 2, 54, p=0.005). Conclusion. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that FMS (TM) has emerged as a powerful tool for identifying lower extremity injury in female athletes. Further investigation and experimentation into FMS (TM) are strongly recommended before implementing them into a pre-participation physical examination (PPE) for combat sports. What is now needed is a cross-national study involving other sports.