INJURY IDENTIFICATION: THE EFFICACY OF THE FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN™ IN FEMALE AND MALE RUGBY UNION PLAYERS

BACKGROUND: Rugby union is a collision sport which is associated with a high injury rate and therefore the development of effective injury prevention strategies is required. PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine whether the Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) components can predict injury in female and male rugby union players and whether differences exist in the FMS™ scores of injured and non-injured players. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: Sixty-four female university rugby union players (age: 20.39 ± 1.91 years) and 55 male university rugby union players (age: 21.05 ± 1.35 years) completed the FMS™ which assesses seven functional movements on a scale of 0 to 3 and provides a total or composite score out of 21. Players were subsequently monitored for injury during the season and injury rates calculated. RESULTS: participants demonstrated no significant difference between non-injured (p = 0.31) and single injury subjects (p = 0.76). CONCLUSION: Injury rates between female rugby and male rugby were similar with match injury rates higher in females. The FMS™ can be used to identify those players with the potential to develop injury and the FMS™ injury cut off point was 11.5 for both female rugby and male rugby players. Individual components of the FMS™ are a better predictor of injury than FMS™ composite score. LEVELS OF EVIDENCE: 2b.