The Functional Movement Screening Test Score Correlates with Age, Sex and Musculoskeletal Symptoms: A Study on Health Care Personnel

Physical fitness and optimum functional movement are essential for efficient performance of job tasks without fatigue and injury. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Functional Movement Screening (FMS) test score and prevalence of Musculoskeletal symptoms (MSSs) in emergency nurses and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff. The present study also sought to determine optimum cut-off point of FMS test score in health personnel. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 134 male and female emergency nurses and EMS technicians. After watching a video tutorial and undergoing practical training of how to do the FMS test, the participants carried out the test while wearing comfortable clothes. In addition to the demographic data questionnaire, Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire was also completed for each participant. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software, version 18 at the significance level of 0.05. Totally, 49.3% (n=66) of the participants were female. The subjects’ mean age and work experience were 35.3±8.7 and 11.4±7.7 years, respectively. Cut-off point of 17 was determined with the highest sensitivity (0.71) and specificity (0.71) based on ROC curve. The highest prevalence of MSSs was observed in the knees (n=44, 32.8%) and lower back (n=31, 23.1%). Multiple linear regression modeling also showed that age, sex, and the prevalence of MSSs were significantly associated with the FMS test score. FMS test seems to be an appropriate screening tool in pre-employment and periodic medical tests for jobs requiring physical fitness and optimum functional movements.