In this article, we will discuss volleyball spikes and pain.
In sports competitions, it is not uncommon to suffer some kind of injury, and depending on how injured you are, you may have to take some time off.
I have seen the desperation of athletes to prevent such injuries, or to take some measures to return to the field as soon as possible after an injury.
In my work as a judo therapist, I often deal with such people, and I have the impression that many of them are eager to adopt any method to get better.
In this article, I will introduce a study that investigates what causes shoulder pain when spiking a volleyball. I would like to introduce a study that investigates what causes shoulder pain during volleyball spiking.
The study
The study will compare 20 amateur volleyball players with shoulder pain during spiking with 20 control participants matched for gender, age, and years of competitive experience.Three-dimensional kinematics of the shoulder joint, scapula, and trunk during spiking were assessed using an electromagnetic tracking system.
The results showed that when compared to the control group, those with shoulder pain had less backward tilt of the scapula, and horizontal abduction of the scapula and internal rotation of the scapula were more pronounced when performing the cross motion.
Discussion
The results showed that a decrease in the posterior tilt angle of the scapula was associated with shoulder pain, along with an increase in horizontal abduction and internal rotation of the scapula.
If you are a clinically experienced person, you may have guessed the disease or characteristic that is present in this type of shoulder situation.
Yes, it is impingement syndrome.
Due to the characteristics of this movement, it is easy to think of impingement occurring in the subacromial area due to stress on the humeral head.
However, it is dangerous to simply assume that the characteristics of this movement are equal to impingement, because even impingement syndrome can often result in false positives on physical examination.
It means that the cause of the pain must be carefully analyzed.
One of the characteristics of people without pain and those with pain is the fact that the backward tilt of the scapula is clearly reduced.In this study, after the post-intervention validation, five different impingement tests were conducted, and only two were positive.
And there was no pain at the moment of spiking, pain after spiking, and shoulder pain on a regular basis.
Shih YF, Wang YC. Spiking Kinematics in Volleyball Players With Shoulder Pain. J Athl Train. 2019;54(1):90-98. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-216-17
Summary
The study provided hints of movement defects related to spiking and shoulder pain.
I am not sure if it is easy to think of it as impingement based on the results, but this kind of judgment tends to happen in the field.
This is what I kept reminding myself as I read.
