ARE SHOULDER MOBILITY TEST SCORES RELATED TO THROWING PERFORMANCE OR ARE THEY AN INJURY SIGNAL

Throws branch is a sport that has the risk of injury due to the movement patterns consisting of excessive repetitions and the need for explosive power production. For this reason, it is important for the athlete's sports career to be able to determine the injury risks beforehand and to take protective measures. This study was aimed to evaluate the functional movement scores of young athletes competing in throwing branches. A total of 11 athletes (7 male and 4 female, aged 14-19), who participated in regional and national competitions and continued training regularly, were participated in the study. After analyzing the physical and anthropometric characteristics of the participants (height, body weight, body mass index and body composition parameters) Functional Movement Screen (FMS™) test measurements were applied. Trunk stability push-up test had the lowest average score of 2.18 in the test. In male participants, hurdle step, in-line lunge, trunk stability push up shoulder mobility test results demonstrated that was asymmetry. Active straight leg raise and shoulder mobility test results in asymmetry results in female participants are remarkable. The functional movement screening test total score average was found to be 17 for both genders. Also non-significant correlations between shoulder mobility and overhead medicine ball throwing tests. The results showed that shoulder mobility test scores cannot be used to predict throwing performance in young track and field thrower athletes. There is a need for studies with large participant groups evaluating both genders in sports that use repetitive movement patterns in future research.