THE EFFECT OF EIGHT WEEKS OF SCAPULAR FOCUSED TRAINING ON PAIN, ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY OF SELECTED SHOULDER MUSCLES, AND UPPER EXTREMITY PERFORMANCE IN MALE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WITH SHOULDER IMPINGEMENT SYNDROME: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Background & Aims: Impingement syndrome is the most common injury and cause of movement limitations and pain in the shoulder area. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of focused scapular training on pain, electrical activity of shoulder muscles, and upper extremity performance in male volleyball players with shoulder impingement syndrome. Materials & Methods: In this randomized clinical trial 30 male volleyball players with shoulder impingement syndrome were selected as sample and randomly divided into two groups of training (N=15) and control (N=15). The training group performed eight weeks of focused scapular training for 60 minutes in three sessions per week. Pre-test and post-test of shoulder pain, electrical activity of shoulder muscles, and upper extremity performance were measured in two groups. For data normalization, Shapiro–Wilk test and for data analysis paired t-test and independent t-test were used (α≤ 0.05). Results: The results showed that scapular focused training reduced pain (p≤0.001), increased activity of Supraspinatus muscle (p≤0.001), lower trapezius (p≤0.001), and the serratus anterior muscles (p≤0.001) during volleyball spike motion, and increased upper extremity performance in the Y balance test (p≤0.001) (p≤0.05). No statistically significant changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion: According to the results, it seems that 8 weeks of scapular focused training had an effect on the pain, electrical activity of shoulder muscles, and upper extremity performance of volleyball players with shoulder impingement syndrome. So it can be used as an appropriate training method in volleyball players with shoulder impingement syndrome.