RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT SCREEN SCORES AND BODY COMPOSITION IN NCAA DIVISION II ATHLETES

Terry Auditorium

Purpose/Hypothesis. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a tool that is used to identify deficiencies in movement patterns linked increased injury risk in active populations, including NCAA Division II athletes. A lack of fitness and higher percent body fat has also been implicated in increasing injury risk in athletic populations. Our study sought to identify a relationship between FMS scores and body composition. We hypothesized that high percent body fat would correlate with low FMS composite scores and low individual test scores in NCAA Division II student-athletes. Materials/Methods. 279 NCAA Division II student-athletes underwent Functional Movement Screen testing and body composition testing in the BodPod during standard pre-participation examination prior to the competitive season of 2014-15. Correlational statistics were performed using Spearman's rank order correlation to examine the relationship between student-athletes with high percent body fat and scores of one on the individual tests of the FMS, high percent body fat and composite FMS scores less than 15, high percent body fat and the presence of an asymmetry on the FMS. Results. High percent body fat correlated with scores of one on individual movement tests of the FMS (rs = .127, p = .033) and composite scores of less than fifteen (rs = .161, p = .007) but not with the presence of an asymmetry on the individual movement tests of the FMS (rs = -.046, p = 441). Conclusions. High percent body fat correlates with low FMS composite and individual test scores.