Can the Functional Movement Screening Test Score Predict the Musculoskeletal Injuries of Male Running Athletes in Iran?

 Pre-participatory evaluation is an effective strategy for predicting and preventing injuries in athletes before participating in organized sports. This research aims to assess whether the functional movement screening (FMS) test can predict the musculoskeletal injuries of running athletes in Iran.

 This is a correlational prospective study. The participants were 100 male runners from athletics clubs in north-east Iran. The screening was done using the seven subtests of the FMS test. The prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries was measured weekly and prospectively for 20 weeks using Fuller’s accident report form. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used to analyze the data in SPSS software, version 26 and the logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between pre-test scores of the FMS test and musculoskeletal injuries. The significance level was set at 0.05.

 The standardized incidence rate of musculoskeletal injuries was 3 in 1000 person-hours. Athletes with lower FMS test scores suffered 3.5 times more injuries than others. The ROC curve and Youden’s index showed a score of 16 as the cut-off point. The FMS test’s sensitivity, specificity and precision were 78.6%, 75.5% and 78%, respectively and the area under the ROC curve was 0.839.

 Considering the high sensitivity, specificity, and precision of the FMS test in musculoskeletal injury detection, it seems that the FMS test score can predict the musculoskeletal injuries of running athletes in Iran, and it can be used to prevent their sports injuries.