Information about a piece of news titled Female elite handball players with troubling shoulders
Female elite handball players with troubling shoulders
Intoduction
Clinical experience indicates that a substantial number of handball players have, or have had, shoulder pain. More than half of Norway’s elite players are affected by these problems.
A study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports set sights on mapping out the prevalence and consequences of shoulder pain problems among Norwegian female elite handball players.
Health professionals working with handball players have for many years reported of shoulder pain as a major problem.
An earlier study in Germany reported that 40 percent of the handball players were prevented from participating in either training or matches in the recent six months.
In other sports, with arm use over shoulder height, there have been reported of a shoulder pain prevalence of 10–52 percent.
Everyone’s included
Ahead of the 2007/2008 season a total of 179 players from twelve different teams in the women’s premier league were tested.
The players answered two questionnaires, and apprehension and relocation tests were performed. In addition internal and external rotation of the shoulder was tested with a goniometer.
Shooting velocity was measured with radar.
Many affected
Of the 179 players 65 (36 %) reported that they had shoulder pain on the day of testing, and as many as 40 players reported of similar problems earlier.
Two thirds of the players with pain said that it wasn’t acute, but with a gradual onset.
For players with current or previous shoulder pain 22 (36 %) and 14 (36 %) had missed match play, and 43 (68 %) and 28 (76 %) reported changing their training habits as a consequence.
So called «positive» apprehension and relocation tests were done on 51 players (29 %). A high proportion of female elite handball players experience shoulder pain and problems, and have an unstable shoulder.
The study did not show any correlation between shoulder pain and movement or shooting velocity.
Festina lente
Even though the dropout rate at times is high, many continue to play despite having shoulder pain problems.
The pain is overuse related and has a negative effect on the players match performance, training, and other daily activities.
The respective team’s staff should be vigilant of pain and problems related to the shoulder, and work on prevention through training exercises and control of each player’s work load throughout the season.
The study was conducted by Grethe Myklebust (Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center), in close cooperation with Lisbeth Hasslan, Roald Bahr and Kathrin Steffen.