xiii, 89 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Participation in athletics includes an inherent risk of becoming injured that is related to the nature of the games and activities of the players. Current literature reports that approximately seven million high school students participate in sports yearly in the United States and, during the 2005-2006 sport seasons, 1.4 million injuries were reported. Considering this high number of injuries, there is little doubt that definitive research into the determination of factors that might help predict the degree of injury risk associated with sport participation is warranted. Despite common association of variables such as joint laxity, range of motion, strength and balance with injury, these traditional measures have not proven to be reliable predictors of vulnerability. Consequently, attempts have been made to identify practical methods that may better permit identification of individuals who show a high likelihood of injury during athletic competition. This study examined one such system, the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), which utilizes measures of mobility and stability to permit its developers to assert that it can be used to practically and accurately identify vulnerable athletes. Critical data on inter-rater and intra-rater performance were first obtained on a team of athletic trainers to ensure that they could reliably execute the testing methods. Following confirmation of this fact, 112 high school basketball athletes were screened with the FMS and their injuries (non-contact neuromusculoskeletal tissue damage in school-sanctioned basketball) were tracked throughout an entire season. Data analysis to determine if a commonly-used FMS cutoff score of less than 14 out of 21 could identify vulnerable athletes revealed that this value was not significantly related to the likelihood of sustaining an injury. Furthermore, logistic regression revealed that none of the individual predictors (gender, FMS movements, and movement asymmetries) were significant predictors of injury susceptibility. The results indicate that, despite the fact that multiple evaluators and trials can be practically used to evaluate FMS scores in a large group of high school basketball athletes, the test does not appear to be a valid tool in assessing injury risk in this population during an entire season. / Committee in charge: Gary Klug, Chairperson, Human Physiology; Paul van Donkelaar, Member, Human Physiology; Andrew Lovering, Member, Human Physiology; Roland Good, Outside Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences

The theoretical part of this dissertation presents a current view of functional (psychogenic) movement disorders (FMD) in the current International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) referred to as dissociative (conversion) motor disorders, which has undergone significant development in the last two decades. It is a heterogeneous group of diseases with a tendency of becoming chronic diseases, which, in addition to motor symptoms, are manifested by a number of comorbid non-motor symptoms (fatigue, pain, anxiety, depression, cognitive difficulties, etc.). Despite the potential reversibility, these disorders still have an unfavorable prognosis and are associated with a low quality of life. Based on our current understanding, abnormalities of attentional processes are among the central phenomena of the development and maintenance of FMD. So far, only a minimum of studies has focused on attentional processes in the context of complex cognitive performance with contradictory findings. The dissertation had two goals. The first of the presented studies focused on the impact of subjectively assessed non-motor symptoms including subjective cognitive complaints and objectively assessed motor symptoms on the quality of life. The aim of the second study was to examine the cognitive profile of patients with FMD...

Submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Chiropractic,Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Background The Functional Movement Screen (FMSTM) is a pre-participation screen consisting of seven tests that rate a player’s functional movement. The screen may be used as an indicator for injury susceptibility in sports people. This may be implemented for preventative measures and improving or sustaining performance in sport. Objectives This research aimed to identify normative values on the FMSTM for female premier league hockey players and assess the association between FMSTM scores and incidence of seasonal injuries. Secondary to this, the research also undertook to assess dependence of the FMSTM on other risk factors identified in the study such as age, number of years playing hockey, height, weight, BMI and position. These risk measures were also tested for association to injury susceptibility. Method The research evaluated the FMSTM score in female premier league hockey players in KwaZulu-Natal prior to the commencement of the competitive season and then tracked the incidence, frequency and distribution of injuries that were sustained during the season. All nine teams in the KwaZulu-Natal female premier hockey league were approached and the players voluntarily participated provided that they fitted the inclusion criteria. In total 74 players between the ages of 18 and 35 were assessed. SPSS version 20 was used in the data analysis to test for statistical significance of the results. Results and conclusions The research sample revealed a mean FMSTM score of 14.39 with a standard deviation of 2.4. The difference in average FMSTM score between the 18 players who sustained non-contact injuries during the course of the season and the 56 players who did not was shown to not be statistically significant at a 95% confidence level. Therefore, this research shows that no association can be made between a low score on the Functional Movement ScreenTM and injury susceptibility. The FMSTM score was shown to be an independent metric when compared to the other injury risk measures identified in the study and the other risk measures were also found to not reliably indicate injury susceptibility. Having said this, the association of weight, FMSTM and BMI with injury susceptibility warrants further investigation as these measures indicated a degree of association. / M

Title: Using the FMS method for injury prevention in older school-age athletes Objectives: The objective of this diploma thesis is to show new methods and approaches used nowadays for preventing injuries in athletics. In order to fulfil the objective, it was necessary to gather as much information as possible about the characteristics of older school-age children, the issue of injuries at this age, in general and in athletics specifically. Understanding the connections, two methods were then selected and described in detail which focus on preventing injury and which are used in athletics as well as other sports. One of these methods is the ComplexCore+ method which was invented and described by Austrian physical therapist and coach Roman Jahoda. This method is widely used in athletics and its main focus is the local and global stabilization of the body. In this thesis, however, I have more focused more on describing and analysing the principles and options for using the Functional Movement Screening (FMS) method. FMS is founded in physical therapy and was created by American physical therapist and coach Gray Cook. The purpose of the method is to identify and assess the quality of basic movement patterns through 7 mobility tests. In order to fulfil the objective of the thesis, two FMS tests were...