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Glenohumeral range of motion (ROM) and isometric strength of professional team handball athletes, part III: changes over the playing season

  • Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

The aim of our study was to investigate the relation of workload on range of motion and isometric strength of team handball athletes’ shoulders over a competitive season.

Materials and methods

31 Professional male handball athletes underwent clinical shoulder examinations. Athletes were examined subsequently during the complete playing season (week 0, 6, 22 and 40) to determine bilateral isometric shoulder rotational strength and active range of motion (ROM). In addition, relative (intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and absolute (standard error of measurement) reliability were calculated.

Results

Intraobserver reliability was excellent (ICC 0.76–0.98) for isometric strength and flexibility measurements. Internal rotation (IR) and total arc ROM in the throwing shoulder (TS) decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in both sequences (week 22 to week 40, week 0 to week 40). External rotation (ER) ROM and isometric strength in IR and ER did not change significantly. Glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) and external rotation gain (ERG) of the TS decreased significantly between week 22 and week 40, but both did not change overall (week 0 to week 40). There was significant influence on IR ROM (week 22 to week 40) and strength in ER (week 0 to week 40) in the non-throwing shoulder.

Conclusions

Several characteristics of handball players’ shoulders changed significantly from the beginning to the end of a season. More specifically, the repetitive forces accumulated during the competitive season resulted in altered GIRD, ERG and isometric strength of the dominant glenohumeral joint.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the athletes of TuS Ferndorf (3rd Team Handball League West) and HSV Bad Blankenburg (3rd Team Handball League East) who made this study possible. All participants provided written consent. We are also grateful to the athletes of TG Münden (4th Handball League) for supporting the reliability study.

The work is part of a study that was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Medicine of the Federal University of Halle—Wittenberg, Germany (study 2013-13).

The investigation is part of the doctoral dissertation by Philipp Jungermann.

The study has been performed without any source of support in the form of Grants, financial donations or other items.

We are very grateful to Professor Kevin G. Laudner, School of Kinesiology and Recreation, Illinois State Universitiy, Illinois 61790, USA, for his support and help to make this manuscript possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Orthopedic Surgery (ZOC), Burckhardtstrasse 60, 34346, Hann. Muenden, Germany

    Georg Fieseler & Philipp Jungermann

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Philipp Jungermann, Alexander Koke, Lars Irlenbusch, Karl-Stefan Delank & René Schwesig

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  1. Georg Fieseler
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  2. Philipp Jungermann
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Correspondence to Georg Fieseler.

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The authors, their immediate families, and any research foundations with which they are affiliated did not receive any financial payments or other benefits from any commercial entity related to the subject of this article.

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Fieseler, G., Jungermann, P., Koke, A. et al. Glenohumeral range of motion (ROM) and isometric strength of professional team handball athletes, part III: changes over the playing season. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 135, 1691–1700 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-015-2308-5

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