Abstract
Background: CrossFit® training has become an increasingly popular trend in the fitness world, with the potential to be an effective form of training for athletes involved in a variety of sports. One criticism of CrossFit® training, however, has been that the relatively intense CrossFit® workouts put athletes at a significant risk of injury. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a system that challenges and assesses an individual’s fundamental movement patterns to measure the stability and mobility of the entire body. Since any area of the body that is not performing under optimal stability or mobility is at risk for injury, it is the goal of FMS to pinpoint any weaknesses within a dynamic and functional setting. Many movement patterns required in CrossFit® utilize components of the individual FMS test positions. Objective: To determine if a correlation exists between the FMS and increased risk for injury during CrossFit® training. Methods: A cohort study was conducted on 24 CrossFit® athletes from a CrossFit® affiliate in Southwest Florida, ages 20 to 49. The athletes were assessed using the FMS screen, then observed for ten weeks tracking for injuries. Results: After running statistical analysis on our data, it could not be determined whether FMS scores were a valid predictor of increased risk of injury in CrossFit® athletes. Conclusion: Further research should be conducted to determine the validity of using the FMS to determine CrossFit® athletes that are at increased risk of injury. Due to limitations of having a small sample size, only tracking volunteers from a single location over a short window of time, using self-reported data, and participants having an inconsistent understanding of injury despite being given a standard definition to be used for the study, the researchers were not able to determine a statistically significant relationship between incidence of injury of FMS scores in CrossFit® athletes.