Functional movement screen predicts severe contact and non-contact injuries in rugby union players

Introduction: Rugby union is a collision sport with a relatively high risk of injury. The ability of the Functional Movement ScreenTM (FMS) to predict the occurrence of severe (≥28 days) contact and non-contact injuries in professional players was assessed. Methods: 90 FMS test observations were compared with severe injuries sustained during 6 subsequent months. Areceiver operated characteristic (ROC) curve determined the FMS score that best predicted severe injury. 2 x 2 contingency tables were used to determine sensitivity, specificity and odds ratios of the prediction. Results: Mean FMS scores were significantly lower in players who sustained severe injury (injured 13.1 ± 1.7 vs. non-injured 14.5 ± 1.4), and severe contact injuries (injured 13.1 ± 2.0 vs. non-injured 14.3 ± 1.5). A receiver-operated characteristic (ROC) curve determined that odds of severe injury, contact injury and non-contact injury were 5.2 (95% CI = 2.0-13.9), 6.5 (95%CI = 1.8 to 23.0) and 4.3 (95%CI = 0.9 to 21.0) times greater respectively if FMS score was below the relevant cut-off score. Low active straight leg raise score (≤ 2) was also significantly associated with injury. Players were divided into High-FMS (≥14) and Low-FMS (≤ 13) groups to estimate the potential effect of low FMS scores. Survival analysis showed a greater fractional survival rate for High-FMS group (≥14) versus a Low-FMS group (≤ 13) (81.4% 95%CI = 68.9 to 89.2% vs. 50.0% 95%CI = 31.3 to 68.7, p<0.05). The Low-FMS group spent more days injured (47 ± 47 vs. 25 ± 39 days) and took longer to recover (29 ± 38 vs. 10 ± 16 days) than the HighFMS group. Conclusion: These findings indicate that FMS score is a risk factor for severe contact and non-contact injury in professional rugby players.