Abstract:
Athletic activities have always carried an inherent risk for injuries, and basketball is no
exception. Basketball is the second most popular team sport in the United States in
which 984,777 high school boys and girls participated during the 2010-2011 season.
Athletic trainers and strength and conditioning staff are pressured to keep these athletes
healthy and playing in games. Injury prevention strategies can reduce the amount of
injuries accumulated during a basketball season. One possible injury prevention tool is
Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Screen (FMS). The FMS is a seven test screen which
portrays a brief overview of an athlete’s fundamental movement patterns (the quality of
an athlete’s movements). Poor movement patterns and asymmetries have been associated
with injuries. Scholarly research is investigated to identify if the FMS could identify
injury susceptible players in the sport of basketball. The literature reviewed reveals
mixed results. Some studies identify a possible connection between low FMS scores and
injury susceptibility while other literature displays the FMS’s inability to predict injury
potential. Other research suggests that the FMS may lack the ability to identify injury
susceptibility in athletes who have had a previous injury. Overall, the research is too
inconclusive to suggest that the FMS should be used as a pre-participation screening tool
for the sport of basketball.
