MEDICINA SPORTIVA - Journal of Romanian Sports Medicine Society

Normative data for the functional movement screen in healthy taekwondo athletes

Regarding the literature there is a considerable risk of injury in taekwondo competition. Injuries can be reduced in taekwondo athletes by a pre-participation screening tool that can identify injury risk. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) can be used by athletes as a reliable clinical tool to predict injury; however, the FMS has not been tested on taekwondo athletes. The current study aims to establish normative FMS values for taekwondo athletes. 45 healthy taekwondo athletes has performed the FMS. Descriptive statistics were analyzed; independent t-tests were conducted to evaluate the gender and experience effect as well as injury background on FMS scores. The existence of any significant differences in scores for any component of the FMS was evaluated using a Chi-square test. The mean FMS score was 13.12 ± 1.9. No significant differences in FMS scores were found between novice and experienced athletes (p = 0.72) or athletes with an injury in their background as well as those without any injury (p = 0.20). Although male and female athletes did not show any significant difference in their total FMS score (p = 0.62), noticeable differences were observed in the deep squat (p < 0.05), trunk stability push-up (p < 0.001) and active straight leg raise components (p = 0.003). This study provides normative values for FMS scores while testing uninjured taekwondo athletes.