The Effect of Fundamental Training on General and Specific Functional Movements in Female Students

Abstract

Disability to perform functional movements is known as one of the most crucial factors of musculoskeletal injuries. This study investigated to what extent fundamental movement training of dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS) could improve various functional movements. The sample consisted of 34 female students who were randomly assigned to two groups. Their age, height and weight were 18.8±0.68, 160.4±5.63 cm and 61.4±14.41 kg for the experimental group and 18.9±0.91, 160.5±3.16 cm and 61.2±12.10 kg for the control group respectively. The experimental group followed a six-week training protocol 3 sessions and 50 minutes each session. Five movement tests were used as the indicators to measure training effectiveness. ANOVA with repeated measures indicated a significant interaction of all five movement tests in favor of the experimental group (F(1,32)≥4.13, P≤0.001 and ƞ2 ≥0.29). Based on Eta-square coefficients, the highest and lowest differences in the progress coefficient were observed in Y-balance test and functional movement screening test respectively. The findings support the hypothesis that fundamental movement training can be used to improve functional movements. Lower improvement of more specific functional movements reveals that they may require not only fundamental movements but also specific training of movement.