Functional Movement Patterns and Body Composition of High-Level Volleyball, Soccer and Rugby Players

CONTEXT: Sports practice leads athletes to develop a specific body composition, coordination patterns and basic motor skills based on the different tactical and physical needs. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to present and compare a wide range of functional movement patterns and body composition (BC) parameters of high-level male athletes playing different sports, and to determine if there was a relationship between the parameters examined. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Team facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty volleyball, twenty-five soccer and thirty rugby players (age 25.9±5.0 years, BMI 25.6±4.1 kg/m2). INTERVENTIONS: Functional movement patterns and anthropometric measurements were collected by a physician specifically trained. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: BMI, fat mass, fat free mass, upper arm muscle and fat area, calf muscle and fat area, thigh muscle and fat area, and functional movement screen (FMS) scores. In addition to considering the FMS total score, we separated the screen into 3 parts: FMSmove, FMSflex and FMSstab. RESULTS: The rugby players showed a higher number of asymmetrical and dysfunctional movements than the other athletes (p <0.01), while the highest scores in FMSflex were obtained by the volleyball players (p <0.01). Additionally, most of the asymmetrical and painful movements in the athletes were measured on the shoulder mobility test. Muscle and fat areas differed significantly among the athletes (p <0.05). Significant associations were found between movement patterns and several BC variables. In particular, large negative correlations were measured between percentage of fat mass (r = -0.616; p <0.01), upper arm fat area (r = -0.519; p <0.01) and FMS total score. CONCLUSIONS: Functional movement patterns and BC differ in athletes according to the sport practiced. Furthermore, reaching an optimal BC is essential to achieve a satisfactory quality of movement.