Effectiveness of Exercise Intervention in Runners with and without Patellofemoral Pain Measured by Functional Movement Screening

INTRODUCTION: The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a tool developed as a standardized pre-participation movement screening to evaluate movement of daily life, used to identify gross movements that are dysfunctional which then need to be corrected, or gross movements that are performed well that can then be further developed. FMS has been used to guide exercise selection to increase sport performance, as well as an injury risk predicting method. Patellofemoral pain is prominent in the running population. The purpose of this study was twofold: (I) Evaluate the effectiveness of a functional movement screen in detecting patellofemoral pain in runners with and without patellofemoral pain; (II) Correct the movement dysfunction with exercise prescription. METHODS: 20 participants with patellofemoral pain and 8 participants with no patellofemoral pain were included. The participants underwent an FMS pre-test and based upon their score, were given a home exercise program. The participants were instructed to complete home exercises over a six-week period, then returned for an FMS post-test. Paired samples t-test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test, and McNemar’s test were conducted to analyze changes in FMS scores over the course of the home exercise program, separately in the pain and no pain group. RESULTS: There was no significant change in composite FMS scores for runners without patellofemoral pain (M=15.7, SD=2.2) after receiving an exercise intervention (M = 17.3, SD = 2.3); t(5) = -1.976, p = 0.105. There was a significant increase in composite FMS scores for runners with patellofemoral pain (M=15.6, SD=2.0) after receiving an exercise intervention (M = 17.7, SD = 1.8); t(14) = -4.571, p =