Development of a Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football

Abstract

Introduction: Football is one of the most popular sports world-wide. As with any sport, there is a risk of injury during participation. Therefore screening procedures are important not only to reduce the risk of injury but also for developing subsequent injury prevention programmes. Assessing functional movement is vital in screening in order to examine an athlete’s ability to perform fundamental tasks required for a specific sport. Currently in football no standardised functional screening protocols are widely available.
Aim: To Develop a Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football
Method Phase 1: A modified online, two round Delphi consensus panel was utilised to establish which tests should be included in a Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football. The panel of experts consisted of Physiotherapists working in Premiership Football.
Results Phase 1: 14 Premiership Football Physiotherapists participated in Round 1 and 8 Premiership Football Physiotherapists in Round 2. After the completion of two rounds, the Delphi consensus panel identified 12 tests that should be included in a Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football.
Method Phase 2: An online questionnaire survey was used to explore the level of agreement of Physiotherapists working in non-Premiership football on the 12 tests selected in Phase 1. This was distributed through email, postal invites and via twitter. Each participant was asked to rate their level of agreement with each test selected for the Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football.
Results Phase 2: 26 Physiotherapists working in non-Premiership football agreed with the inclusion of 10 out of the 12 tests selected by the consensus panel in Phase 1. The single-leg squat, deep squat, in-line lunge, Y-balance test, modified Thomas test, internal rotators of the hip assessment, vertical jump test, external rotators of the hip assessment, adductor/groin flexibility test and gastrocnemius test were included in the final Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football.
Discussion: A total of 40 Physiotherapists working in football collectively identified 10 tests to be included in a Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football. Although 10 tests have been identified for inclusion in the screening tool, standardised procedures still need to be defined for each test. Interestingly the tests selected for inclusion in the Functional Movement Screening Tool for Football were a combination of functional, balance, performance and muscle length tests. This highlights either a lack of understanding around the term functional movement or identifies a need for an overall screening tool in football as no standardised protocol is widely available at present.
Conclusion: A screening tool specific for football has been developed. The use of a modified Delphi consensus panel successfully recruited and gained the views from Premiership Football Physiotherapists, a population which is normally difficult to access. Further research into the reliability and validity of the screening tool need to be examined in future studies. Successful methods for overcoming barriers in performing football research have been identified; in particular twitter may serve as a valuable resource for knowledge sharing in football.