FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN AND LOWER LIMB STRENGTH ASYMMETRY IN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYERS

Background The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) protocol consists of 7 tests (Cook & Burton, 2014). At higher values mean higher quality of movement execution. Lower limb functional asymmetry (FA) is monitored to control the athlete9s injury risk (Sannicandro et al ., 2011). Objective To examine the correlation between the FMS score and strength asymmetry in professional soccer players (PSP). Design Descriptive study (correlation study investigating the relationship between variables). Setting Professional soccer. Participants n=30 professional soccer players (age: 22.2±4.6; weight: 74.3±10,1 kg; height: 176.1±8.7 cm), 4 players were excluded due to joint or muscle injury within the last 18 months. Assessment of Risk Factors The FMS protocol identifies athletes as being at risk of injury when the total score is ≤14. The Hop Test (HT), Side Hop (SH) and Hop Crossover (CH) test are considered to represent a valid assessment of the single lower limb FA. The counter movement jump (CMJ) test indirectly evaluates explosive strength capacity (jump height). Main Outcome Measurements The sample was evaluated using the 7 FMS test and CMJ, HT, SH and CH tests for strength capacity. FA was calculated between the two limbs as follows: (jump dominant limb–jump non-dominant limb)/jump dominant-limb*100 (Yamamoto, 1993). Results We observed a significant inverse correlation between FMS score and the SH asymmetry percentage (r=−0.678, p Conclusions The best quality movement in FMS test was correlated with high performance in CMJ and with low percentage of lower limb FA, respectively.