Functional Movement Screen test scores in young soccer players

BACKGROUND AND AIMS. In the last 20 years there has been an increase of children who engage in sport activities4 and with them an increase in the amount of injuries: in the USA, over 4 million adolescents suffered of such injuries 1. One of the most common trauma in the puberal period is the Anterior Knee Pain (AKP)2. Many factors may be involved, such as muscles imbalances, poor flexibility, incorrect alignment of the legs between the hips and the ankles, improper sports techniques or equipment and overload. All of them pull the kneecap sideways in its groove causing pain in the knee. Recent researches suggested that a better functional movement and an optimal dynamic balance are associated with reduced injury rates3. However, there are only few studies in this area related to the functional movement in football players. The purpose is to provide available data about using this new method (FMS, Functional Movement System, composed by a screening system and corrective exercises) which investigates simultaneously balance, flexibility, strength and motor control. METHODS. Forty-two male regional-level football players (14±1 yrs, 58±1 kg, 168±0.5 cm, 20.5±1.3 kg/m2) were recruited:with AKP (n=18) and Healthy (n=24). All subjects participated toFunctional Movement Screen (FMS) in order to obtain an evaluation of the general quality of movement; it consisted of 7 tests: squat, lunge, hurdle step, push up, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, and rotary stability. Due to the rank-order nature of the data, Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine differences in the FMS tests. All data used was subjected to the athletes’ parents informed consent. RESULTS. Differences in the physical condition of the groups were pointed out by FMS single scores (table 1): subjects without AKP performed better on deep squat, hurdle step, in line lunge, active straight leg raise and rotary stability compared to adolescents with AKP (p<0.05). Instead, two of the seven tests (shoulder mobility and trunk stability push up)show no significant differences among the two groups. Significant differences (p<0.05) were reported also in the composite score of healthy players (table 2): Healthy players had a better balance, mobility and functional movement compared to AKP subjects with a mean composite score, which is in line with the cut off point3 (14.1±1.7 healthy vs. 10±2.1 AKP) CONCLUSIONS Young football players with AKP and without AKP, can exhibit different qualities of functional movement. Subjects with AKP are less balanced during multi-directional movements, have minor motor control and poor hips mobility. This could be attributed to the syndrome which leads to an uncomfortable situation with a limited functional dynamic coordination. Clinicians suggest that an AKP treatment program should be based on correct movement patterns in order to reduce the painfulsymptoms2. For a football player, for whom is important to be in balance, to be strong, to have body control and flexibility, the FMS could be an easy strategy to evaluate and train the quality of movements during the growth period. With a young player, it’s fundamental to develop a correct execution of primitive movement patterns and a proper coordination to prevent and reduce the number of injuries