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Int J Sports Med 2022; 43(02): 145-150
DOI: 10.1055/a-1524-2038
Training & Testing

Supraspinatus Tendon Changes and Glenohumeral Range of Motion in College Baseball Players

Tomonobu Ishigaki
1   Graduate School of Human Life Design, Toyo University, Asaka, Japan
2   Graduate School of Health Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
,
Motoki Hirokawa
3   Department of Rehabilitation, Obihiro Kosei Hospital, Obihiro, Japan
,
Yuya Ezawa
4   Department of Social and Human Science Course, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Japan
,
Masanori Yamanaka
5   Faculty of Health Science, Hokkaido Chitose College of Rehabilitation, Chitose, Japan
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors thank the study participants and a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (19J00824) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
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Abstract

Baseball players commonly show altered glenohumeral range of motion during internal rotation, external rotation, total rotation, and horizontal adduction. These altered ranges of motion appear to be associated with throwing shoulder injuries, which frequently involve the supraspinatus tendons; thus, we aimed to examine the relationship between altered glenohumeral range of motion and supraspinatus tendon changes in collegiate baseball players. To investigate this association using the Pearson correlation coefficient, we measured glenohumeral internal rotation, external rotation, total rotation, and horizontal adduction ranges of motion and supraspinatus tendon thickness in 22 college baseball players. Consequently, there was a significant relationship between increase in supraspinatus tendon thickness and greater deficit of internal rotation (r=–0.520, P=0.013). Increased supraspinatus tendon thickness tended to be associated with greater external rotation gain (r=0.394, P=0.073). No other range of motion had any relationship with supraspinatus tendon changes. These results might indicate that restricted glenohumeral internal rotation and excessive gain in external rotation increase the risk of supraspinatus tendon abnormalities in baseball players.



Publication History

Article published online:
15 July 2021

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