Functional movement assessment and change after a physical fitness training program in law enforcement personnel
Open Access
- Author:
- Rosendale, Ryan P
- Graduate Program:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 05, 2014
- Committee Members:
- William E Buckley, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Sayers John Miller Iii, Committee Member
Steriani Elavsky, Committee Member
Samuel William Monismith, Committee Member - Keywords:
- physical fitness
functional movement
functional movement screen - Abstract:
- Law enforcement personnel (LEP) as a population are at an increased risk for development of chronic and acute health conditions. Compared to the general population, higher rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal injury have been observed in LEP. Evidence suggests that functional movement patterns are linked to injury risk. Thus, assessment of functional movement patterns in this population was critically examined. Four studies examined measures of physical fitness and patterns of functional movement in newly hired deputy sheriffs. The first study evaluated the validity of a commercially available wrist-worn accelerometer device for estimating energy expenditure (EE) due to physical activity, with the goal of adapting the technology for research use in the deputy sheriff population. The device was able to accurately estimate EE during a bout of walking (3.0 mph); however it was not accurate for estimates of energy expenditure during more intense exercise or during habitual daylong wear. Study 2 established measures of inter-rater reliability for the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) within our sports medicine research group. Inter-rater reliability in the sports medicine research group was acceptable for longitudinal study of deputy sheriff trainees. Normative FMS data for this unique population was established in study 3. The results indicated that FMS scoring in deputy sheriff trainees was negatively associated with body mass index and age. Study 4 examined FMS scoring in deputy sheriff trainees before and after an 11-week physical fitness training program. FMS scores significantly improved following the physical fitness program, moving the group average total FMS score above the proposed injury risk threshold. These results provide the framework for future evaluation of injury risk and assessment of functional movement in LEP.