Abstract
The shoulder region has the highest incidence of acute injuries in the sport of surfing. Little is known about the strength profile at the shoulder in a surfing cohort. The primary aim of this study was to establish the reliability of a rotator cuff strength testing procedure for surfers with a secondary aim of providing a profile of internal and external rotation strength in a competitive surfing cohort. Shoulder internal rotation and external rotation isometric strength was measured using a hand-held dynamometer in 13 competitive surfers. Intra-class coefficient values ranged from 0.97 to 0.98 for intra-rater reliability and were lower for inter-rater reliability ranging from 0.80 to 0.91. Internal rotation strength was greater than external rotation strength bilaterally (dominant, p = 0.007, non-dominant, p < 0.001). No differences (p < 0.79) were found in internal rotation strength between the dominant and non-dominant arms. External rotation strength was weaker on the non-dominant arm compared with the dominant arm (p < 0.02). The non-dominant arm external rotation to internal rotation ratio (0.82 ± 0.15) was lower (p = 0.025) than the dominant arm (0.88 ± 0.14). The current procedure is reliable with the same clinician, and results indicate musculature asymmetry specific to the external rotators.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2018
Publication Title
Sports
Publisher
MDPI
School
Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Research / School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
29503
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Furness, J., Schram, B., Cottman-Fields, T., Solia, B., & Secomb, J. (2018). Profiling shoulder strength in competitive surfers. Sports, 6(2), Article 52. Available here