Comparing the Scores of The Functional Movement Screen™ in Individuals with Low Back Pain versus Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Only seven studies were included, with samples of 20 to 60 participants each, so the whole review rests on a few hundred people. Several pooled analyses were highly inconsistent between studies, meaning they were not all measuring the same thing. All seven studies were rated high risk of bias for selective reporting, even though the paper's summary line calls the overall risk of bias low to unclear. The total-score comparison that carries the headline result rests on just three studies of 144 people. Many participants were young athletes, including collegiate pole vaulters and rowers, so the results may not carry over to older or less active patients with back pain. The review does not account for pain intensity or for the treatments participants were receiving, both of which could affect FMS scores.

All authors report no conflicts of interest. No funding source is mentioned in the paper.

Do not read this as proof that the Functional Movement Screen can tell you whether an individual patient moves poorly because of their back pain, or predict who will go on to develop it. The findings are group averages from seven small studies that disagreed substantially with each other, and the authors themselves say score differences of less than one point may be clinically meaningless. Removing single studies from the analysis also erased some of the differences, including the rotary stability result.