The Effects of Strengthening, Stretching and Comprehensive Exercises on Forward Shoulder Posture Correction

Purpose: The forward shoulder (FS) is one of the most common deformities accounted for 60% of shoulder abnormalities.This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 6-weekstrength training, stretch training andcomprehensive training in patients with forward shoulder abnormalities. Methods:This quasi-experimental study design Pre-posttest with control group. Forty females students with excessive forward shoulder angle (FS>52) were chosen using purposive sampling method. The average of age, weight, height and body mass index of the samples were 22.22±1.77 years, 61.22±1.90 kg, 161.85±2.55 cm, and 23.37±0.9kg.m2 respectively. The subjects were randomly divided into 4 groups ( each 10 subjects), 3 experimental and 1 control groups. The first experimental group performed strength training, second group stretch training and third group comprehensive training for 6 weeks. In this period, the control group did not receive any training. We used photogrammetric method to measure the angle of the forward shoulder. Shoulder angle changes of the subjects before and after 6 weeks were measured. Data were analyzed using paired T-test, One-way analysis of variance and SPSS (21) (P≤0.05). Results: According to study findings, paired t-test results in the experimental group showed that the forward shoulder angle of the subjects in corrective exercises significantly decreased so that after participating in 3 types of training program, strengthening(P=0.001, t=8.63), stretching (P=0.001, t=6.78) and comprehensive (P=0.001, t=12.11), the angle dropped in the order of 6.10, 4.90 and 7.10 degrees. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there are significant differences (P=0.001) among the effects of different exercises on the forward shoulder angle. Based on Tukey test results, the implementation of corrective exercises, strengthening (P=0.001), stretching (P=0.001), and comprehensive (P=0.001) showed a significant difference with the control group. However, no significant differences were observed among the groups of strength, stretching and comprehensive trainings with each other. Conclusion: The results demonstrated a significant decrease in the angle of forward shoulder in the experimental group. Therefore, using this program is recommended in subjects with these deformity.