Study Design and Participate
This study is a prospective cross-sectional study. During the preseason phase of the 2023 season, data on bilateral shoulders were collected from volleyball players. The subjects in this study were players from the top four teams in the ranking of the Taiwan High School Volleyball League (HVL).
A total of 40 high school male volleyball athletes participated in the study. Among the participants, 34 were right-handed and 6 were left-handed. The participants' average age was 17.7 ± 0.93 years, average height was 180.0 ± 5.91 cm, average weight was 71.1 ± 7.47 kg, and average volleyball experience was 6.5 ± 2.56 years. Inclusion criteria were: no history of upper limb injury, fracture, dislocation, subluxation, or any neurological disorders in the past year; negative results on special shoulder tests administered by a physical therapist; and a minimum training load of four days per week in addition to at least three years of specialized training in volleyball. All participants were informed about the experimental procedures, and both participants and their parents signed the informed consent forms. The study protocol adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan (IRB No: FJU-IRB C110139).
Procedure
This study was conducted with an iPhone 12 Pro Max (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA), recording videos (1080 HD/60 fps) of the active ROM of the shoulder. The videos were then analyzed using Kinovea software (Version 0.9.5; Kinovea open source project, www.kinovea.org) to measure the ROM. The shoulder ROM tests included measurements of shoulder hyper-extension (SE), shoulder flexion (SF), internal rotation (IR), external rotation (ER), horizontal adduction (Sadd), and horizontal abduction (Sabd) (Fig. 1). All measurements underwent test-retest reliability assessments before the formal pilot testing, with reliability coefficients ranging from 0.984 to 0.998 (SE: 0.984, SF: 0.993, IR: 0.997, ER: 0.991, TROM: 0.993, Sadd: 0.998, and Sabd: 0.995). Both the dominant and non-dominant sides were tested randomly. In this study, the dominant hand was defined as the upper limb used by the volleyball player for attacking movements. All measurements and data collection were performed by one researcher; each measuring item was tested twice and the average value was used for further statistical analysis. All tests were conducted indoors gym. Participants performed a 15-minute warm-up, including jogging and stretching. After warming up, participants drew lots to determine the order of testing and then had their shoulder ROM measured in sequence. There was a 5-minute rest period between each measurement item.
Shoulder Hyper-Extension Measurement (Fig. 1a): The participant lay supine on a platform with the arm positioned alongside the body. The researcher manually stabilized the scapula. The participant then moved the arm posteriorly to its limit. Upon reaching the maximal extension, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. The shoulder joint center was used as the axis to draw two straight lines: one parallel to the lateral midline of the trunk and the other parallel to the midline of the humerus. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder hyper-extension angle [20].
Shoulder Flexion Measurement (Fig. 1b): The participant lay supine on a platform with the arm positioned alongside the body. The researcher manually stabilized the scapula. The participant then raised the arm overhead into flexion to the maximal possible degree. Upon reaching maximal flexion, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. The shoulder joint center was used as the axis to draw two lines: one parallel to the lateral midline of the trunk and the other parallel to the midline of the humerus. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder flexion angle [20].
Shoulder Internal/External Rotation Measurement (Fig. 1c & d): The participant lay supine on a platform with the shoulder abducted to 90 degrees, the elbow flexed to 90 degrees, and the forearm positioned with the palm facing down. For in-ternal rotation, the participant moved the arm towards the feet till the end range. Up-on reaching maximal internal rotation, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. Olecranon was used as the axis, two lines were drawn: one perpendicular to the ground and the other parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ulna. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder internal rotation angle [20]. For external rotation, the participant's fore-arm was again positioned with the palm facing down, and the participant moved the arm towards the head to the maximal limit. Upon reaching maximal external rotation, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. Using the olecranon as the axis, two lines were drawn: one perpendicular to the ground and the other parallel to the longitudinal axis of the ulna. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder external rotation angle [20].
Shoulder Horizontal Adduction Measurement (Fig. 1d): The participant lay supine on a platform while the researcher manually stabilized the scapula. The participant then moved the arm horizontally across the chest towards the opposite shoulder to the maximal limit. Upon reaching maximal horizontal adduction, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. Using the acromion as the axis, two straight lines were drawn: one parallel to the top of the shoulder and the other parallel to the longitudinal axis of the humerus. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder horizontal adduction angle [21]. This measurement assesses the flexibility of the posterior shoulder; a larger angle indicates greater tightness in the posterior shoulder.
Shoulder Horizontal Abduction Measurement (Fig. 1e): The participant lay supine on a platform with the shoulder abducted to 90 degrees. The participant then moved the arm horizontally and posteriorly to the maximal limit. Upon reaching maximal horizontal abduction, the video recording was stopped. The video was then analyzed using Kinovea to measure the joint angle. Using the acromion as the axis, two straight lines were drawn: one parallel to the top of the shoulder and the other parallel to the longitudinal axis of the humerus. The angle between these two lines was recorded as the shoulder horizontal abduction angle [21]. This measurement assesses the flexibility of the anterior shoulder, specifically the pectoralis muscle; a larger angle indicates greater anterior shoulder flexibility.
After completing the measurements, the total rotational range of motion (TROM) and glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) were calculated using the participants' shoulder internal and external rotation data. The formula for TROM is as follows:
TROM = Shoulder Internal Rotation (IR) + Shoulder External Rotation (ER)
The GIRD was determined using the following criteria: if the difference between the non-dominant side's internal rotation and the dominant side's internal rotation was greater than 10 degrees, and the difference between the non-dominant side's TROM and the dominant side's TROM was greater than 5 degrees, the participant was classified as having GIRD [15].
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Statistical Analysis
The data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 for Windows (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation (SD), were presented. The Shapiro-Wilk test was conducted to assess the normality of the data. If both groups exhibited a normal distribution, a paired-sample t-test was used to compare the differences in shoulder ROM between the dominant and non-dominant sides of the participants; if exhibited otherwise, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was employed for the analysis. Finally, Cohen’s d was calculated to determine the effect size, with 0.2 indicating a small effect, 0.5 a medium effect, and 0.8 a large effect. The significance level (α) was set at 0.05.