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This now traumatic non-contact ACL injury could have been prevented through a simple course of physical therapy. Following the snowball effect, that mild ankle sprain results in a loss of motion, which in turn can become a predictor of a knee injury. Approximately 30-40% of ankle sprains become recurrent. All too often, that seemingly innocuous mild ankle sprain becomes recurrent. Proprioception, more simply stated as your awareness of your body in space, is a major component of one’s balance, and body control, namely motor/muscular, are imperative in the return to play continuum. Once we get pain under control, are we making sure that these athletes are moving properly in order to return to the field? Pain and proper movement are not always related. When trying to get an athlete back onto the playing field, there are multiple rehabilitation keys. An athlete who has a decreased ability to balance and reach also has a 6.5x increase chance of injury. The Star-Excursion Balance Test and Y-Balance Test have both been found to be good risk assessment tools. Once the rehabilitation phases move out of the pain cycle, the Functional Movement Screen can be useful to provide the athlete with a better understanding of fundamental movemetn patterns and how this can associate to injury risk.
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This allows the clinican to provide the most appropriate intervention - manual therapy and corrective exercises. The detailed assessment identifies mobility versus motor control dysfunctions influencing the athlete’s pain.

It can also be utilized at the end of an athlete’s rehabilitation to assess their “readiness” to return to sports.ĭuring the rehabilitation process, the Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA) provides a movement differential diagnosis based on movement patterns. The FMS provides a breakdown of the athlete's movement patterns - those that are considered ideal or acceptable and those that need to be corrected to help minimize injury risk. While it does not have any direct correlation to skill needed to play a sport, it does provide insight into how an athlete is moving. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is one variable that should be considered when measuring an athlete's risk of injuy. Medical providers need to look further into the influences over injuries. With such a high demand placed on our young athletes, more and more of them are breaking down. Unfortunately, “fully recovered” is not objective. These questions would seem to have obvious answers. Have our athletes fully recovered from their previous injury? The greatest predictor of an injury is a previous injury. Meanwhile, there is a growing epidemic of ACL injuries occurring among younger athletes. Recent studies have found that 50% of youth sports injuries occur from overuse. Unfortunately, when breakdowns in this balance occur, injuries happen. Youth soccer demands an equal balance of strength, stability, mobility, explosiveness, and endurance.

Youth Soccer Injures and The 3 R's: Risk Assessment, Rehabilitation, and Reduction Written by Brad Papson FMS
