The Effect of Select Shoulder Exercises on Strength, Active Angle Reproduction, Single-Arm Balance, and Functional Performance

Objective: To determine whether select shoulder exercises influence shoulder-rotation strength, active angle reproduction (AAR), single-arm dynamic stability, and functional throwing performance in healthy individuals. Design: Pretest–posttest. Setting: Laboratory. Participants: 54, randomly placed in 4 training groups. Intervention: Four 5-week training protocols. Main Outcome Measures: Average shoulder-rotation torque, AAR, single-arm dynamic stability, and functional throwing performance. Results: Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed a significant group-by-test interaction for average torque (P > .05). Post hoc analyses revealed significantly increased average torque in the open kinetic chain and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) groups after training. AAR and sway velocity were not affected in any of the groups (P > .05), but functional performance revealed a significant group-by-test interaction (P < .05). Post hoc analysis demonstrated that the PNF group significantly improved after training (P < .05). Conclusions: Shoulder strength can be improved in healthy individuals, but improvements depend on the exercise performed. Shoulder proprioception and neuromuscular control were unchanged in all groups, but functional performance improved in the PNF group.