Examining the Impact of a Mobile Health App on Functional Movement and Physical Fitness: Pilot Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Numerous mobile apps available for download are geared toward health and fitness; however, limited research has evaluated the real-world effectiveness of such apps. The movr app is a mobile health app designed to enhance physical functioning by prescribing functional movement training based on individualized movement assessments. The influence of the movr app on functional movement and physical fitness (flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness) has not yet been established empirically.

Objective: This study aims to examine the real-world impact of the movr app on functional movement, flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular fitness.

Methods: A total of 48 healthy adults (24 women and 24 men; mean age 24, SD 5 years) completed an 8-week pilot pragmatic randomized controlled trial in which they were randomly assigned to either 8-week use of the movr app (n=24) or 8-week waitlist control (n=24). Measures of functional movement (Functional Movement Screen [FMS]), strength (push-ups, handgrip strength, and countermovement jump), flexibility (shoulder flexibility, sit and reach, active straight leg raise [ASLR], and half-kneeling dorsiflexion), and cardiovascular fitness (maximal oxygen uptake []) were collected at baseline and the 8-week follow-up.

Results: Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed significant group-by-time interactions for the 100-point FMS (P<.001), shoulder flexibility (P=.01), ASLR (P=.001), half-kneeling dorsiflexion (P<.001), and push-up tests (P=.03). Pairwise comparisons showed that FMS scores increased from pre- to postintervention for those in the movr group (P<.001) and significantly decreased for those in the control group (P=.04). For shoulder flexibility, ASLR, half-kneeling dorsiflexion, and push-up tests, improvements from pre- to postintervention were found in the movr group (all values of P<.05) but not in the control group (all values of P>.05). There were no changes in the sit and reach or handgrip strength test scores for either group (all values of P>.05). A significant main effect of time was found for the countermovement jump (P=.02), such that scores decreased from pre- to postintervention in the control group (P=.02) but not in the movr group (P=.38). Finally, a significant group-by-time interaction was found for (P=.001), revealing that scores decreased pre- to postintervention in the control group (P<.001), but not in the movr group (P=.54).

Conclusions: The findings revealed that movr improved indices of functional movement (FMS), flexibility (shoulder, ASLR, and dorsiflexion), and muscular endurance (push-ups) over an 8-week period compared with the control group while maintaining handgrip strength, lower body power (countermovement jump), and cardiovascular fitness (). Thus, this study provides initial evidence of the effectiveness of the movr app for enhancing functional movement and physical fitness among healthy adults.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04865666; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04865666.

Keywords: cardiovascular fitness; flexibility; functional movement; mHealth; strength.

Figure 1

Measurements of (A) 100-point Functional Movement Screen, (B) shoulder reach, (C) active straight leg raise, and (D) half-kneeling dorsiflexion before (pre) and after (post) the 8-week intervention period. Circles with black connecting lines represent sample means with SD error bars, whereas gray lines represent individual participant data points. Asterisks indicate significant differences between pre- and postintervention values within a given group (*P<.05; **P<.01). FMS: Functional Movement Screen.

Figure 2

Measurements of (A) push-ups, (B) countermovement jump, and (C) maximal oxygen uptake () before (pre) and after (post) the 8-week intervention period. Circles with black connecting lines represent sample means with SD error bars, whereas gray lines represent individual participant data points. Asterisks indicate significant differences between pre- and postintervention values within a given group (*P<.05; **P<.01). <inline-graphic xlink:href="mhealth_v9i5e24076_fig3.png" xlink:type="simple" mimetype="image"/>: maximal oxygen uptake.