Sports and Exercise Medicine

Background: Functional movement screening (FMS) and Y-balance test (YBT) are assessment procedures used to examine the ‘quality’ of movement patterns and identify individuals that might have specific limitations or asymmetries. Low FMS and YBT scores have been linked with a higher risk of injury among athletic populations. Since FMS and YBT are becoming more widely used screening tools, it is important to examine the various training programs that could improve FMS and YBT scores. Purpose: This pilot study examined the effects of a 10-week periodized and traditional military training program on FMS, and upper and lower quadrant YBT scores of Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) Cadets. Methods: Subjects consisted of 36 Army and Air Force ROTC cadets (male=24, female=12), Age 19.7(yrs)±5.96, Height (cm)=175.7±9.28, Weight(kg)=75.70±13.41. The periodized, intervention group (IG n=24) trained for 1 hour/day, 4 days/week and the control group (CG n=12) participated in traditional ROTC training protocol for 1 hour/day, 3 days/week. A 2×2 mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare mean change values of the FMS, upper, and lower quadrant YBT scores for intervention and control groups. Results: A significant interaction (p≤0.05) was observed for FMS scores. The control group had a much lower initial FMS score and demonstrated more improvement than the intervention group. Both groups demonstrated a significant increase in left side YBT upper (p=0.03) and lower (p=0.02) quadrant scores after 10-weeks of training. Conclusions: Since FMS and YBT scores are being used more frequently as screening tools for risk of injury, it is important to study methods that will improve FMS and YBT scores in diverse athletic populations. This study found larger improvements in FMS scores in ROTC cadets participating in a traditional military training program compared to cadets participating in a periodized strength training program. Scores in the left side of the YBT upper and lower quadrants were improved in both groups suggesting multiple training programs can improve function in non-dominant sides or asymmetries. Future studies are warranted and should address certain limitations that this study encountered (sample size and length of training period). Further exploration of FMS and YBT scores and mechanisms of improvement in tactical athletic populations would be beneficial.