High levels of injury have caused a significant decrement in mission readiness and a high taxation on medical resources in the military. There is an immediate need to identify valid and cost effective tools for identifying military personnel at increased risk of being injured as a first step in mitigating injury and implementing prevention mechanisms. The Functional Movement Screen (FMS), the Lower Quarter Y-Balance Test (YBT-LQ), and the Landing Error Scoring System – Real Time (LESS-RT) are screening tools that have been used in athletic and military populations to indentify individuals at risk for injury. The purposeof this study was to evaluate and compare functional screening tools for validity in a military population. The hypothesis of this study was that poor movement patterns identified by low FMS scores, low YBT-LQ scores, and high LESS-RT scores would be associated with greater injury occurrence among soldiers during training and selection for Special Forces. A total of 690 participants were recruited from soldiers undergoing Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) at Fort Bragg, NC. Students were screened during in-processing, and injury data was collected througout the three week SFAS period. Descriptive statistics were calculated and t-tests used to compare mean (SD) differences between groups. Odds ratios and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to examine the likelihood associations between the functional screening tools and injury. No statistically significant mean differences of the composite FMS, the YBT-LQ, and the LESS-RT scores were found between injured and non-injured soldiers. By individual subtests, the mean Rotary Stability score on the FMS was signficantly higher among the injured than non-injured soldiers. A signficant difference was found between injured and non-injured groups for Posterior Medial Reach subtest with the right lower extremity of the YBT-LQ. A significant relationship was also found between groups on the Total Sagittal Plane Motion subtest of the LESS-RT. The overall test scores for FMS, YBT-LQ, and LESS-RT were not associated with injury occurrence in a military population during a 3-week Special Forces training and assessment course.
