Citation

Tee JC, Klingbiel JF, Collins R, Lambert M, Coopoo Y. J. Strength Cond. Res. 2016; 30(11): 3194-3203.

Affiliation

aDepartment of Sport and Movement Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa bGolden Lions Rugby Union, Johannesburg, South Africa cSection Sports Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa dUCT/MRC Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town South Africa.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, National Strength and Conditioning Association)

DOI

10.1519/JSC.0000000000001422

PMID

26982969

Abstract

Rugby Union is a collision sport with a relatively high risk of injury. The ability of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) or its component tests to predict the occurrence of severe (≥28 days) injuries in professional players was assessed. 90 FMS test observations from 62 players across four different time periods were compared with severe injuries sustained during 6 months following FMS testing. Mean composite FMS scores were significantly lower in players who sustained severe injury (injured 13.2 ± 1.5 vs. non-injured 14.5 ± 1.4, ES = 0.83, large), due to differences in in-line lunge (ILL) and active straight leg raise scores (ASLR). Receiver-operated characteristic (ROC) curves and 2 x 2 contingency tables were used to determine that ASLR (cut-off 2/3) was the injury predictor with the greatest sensitivity (0.96, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.0). Adding the ILL in combination with ASLR (ILL+ASLR) improved the specificity of the injury prediction model (ASLR specificity = 0.29, 95%CI 0.18 to 0.43 vs. ASLR+ILL specificity = 0.53, 95%CI 0.39 to 0.66, p < 0.05). Further analysis was performed to determine whether FMS tests could predict contact and non-contact injuries. The FMS composite score and various combinations of component tests (Deep squat (DS)+ILL, ILL+ASLR and DS+ILL+ASLR) were all significant predictors of contact injury. The FMS composite score also predicted non-contact injury, but no component test or combination thereof produced a similar result. These findings indicate that low scores on various FMS component tests are risk factors for injury in professional rugby players.

Language: en