Intra-Rater reliability of the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) amongst NHS Physiotherapists

Objectives: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the intra-rater reliability of the FMS amongst a group of novice National Health Service (NHS) Physiotherapists. The secondary objective was to establish if Intra-rater reliability differed between non-specialist rotational Physiotherapists and Physiotherapists working within the musculoskeletal (MSk) setting. Design: Reliability Study. Method: Forty participants with no recent MSk injury were video recorded completing the 7 component FMS tests. Six NHS Physiotherapists with no previous experience using the FMS attended a 2 hour training programme delivered by a certified FMS practitioner. Raters then viewed and scored videos of the 40 participants completing the FMS. Results: The intra-rater reliability of FMS composite scores was Excellent (mean ICC of 0.91 (95% CI 0.81-0.96)). The non-specialist rotational Physiotherapist group demonstrated Good-Excellent intra-rater reliability (ICC 0.9; 95% CI 0.79-0.95). Specialist MSk Physiotherapists demonstrated Excellent intra-rater reliability (ICC 0.92; 95% CI 0.84-0.96). Intra-rater reliability of the 7 component tests of the FMS ranged from Poor-Excellent (KW 95% CI 0.11-0.98). Conclusion: Among novice NHS Physiotherapists, the FMS composite score demonstrated Excellent intra-rater reliability. MSk specialists were found to demonstrate a marginally superior level of intra-rater agreement compared to non-specialist rotational Physiotherapists; however this is likely to be negligible in a clinical context. Clinical specialism also appears to have little impact on the intra-rater reliability of FMS components with both groups of raters achieving a Poor-Excellent level of agreement. Keywords: Intra-rater, reliability, functional movement screen, FMS