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Effect of shoulder taping on maximum shoulder external and internal rotation range in uninjured and previously injured overhead athletes during a seated throw
Author(s) -
McConnell Jenny,
Donnelly Cyril,
Hamner Samuel,
Dunne James,
Besier Thor
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1002/jor.21399
Subject(s) - throwing , medicine , range of motion , external rotation , internal rotation , athletes , trunk , shoulder joint , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , kinematics , surgery , engineering , physics , mechanical engineering , ecology , classical mechanics , biology
The purpose of our study was to investigate whether shoulder taping affects shoulder kinematics in injured and previously injured overhead athletes during a seated throw. Twenty‐six overhead college athletes threw a handball three times with and without tape, while seated on a chair. An 8‐camera Vicon Motion Capture system recorded markers placed on the upper limb and trunk during each of the throwing conditions. Scaled musculoskeletal models of the upper limb were created using OpenSim and inverse kinematics used to obtain relevant joint angles. Shoulder taping had no main effect on external (ER) and internal (IR) rotation range (ROM) of the shoulder, but a significant interaction effect was found ( p = 0.003 and 0.02, respectively), depending on previous injury status, whereby both the ER and IR ROM of the shoulder in the group of previously injured athletes decreased when taped (143–138° and 54–51°, respectively), but increased in the group who had never been injured (131–135° and 42–44°, respectively). Maximum abduction range and ball velocity were not affected by the application of shoulder taping, regardless of previous injury status. Thus, application of shoulder taping has a differential effect on maximum shoulder ER and IR ROM during throwing depending on previous injury status. These findings have implications for returning athletes to sport after injury and for screening athletes at risk of injury. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 29: 1406–1411, 2011