Comparison of Internal and External Rotator Muscles Strength in Dominant and Non-Dominant Organ and Their Relationship with Shoulder Pain of Wheelchair Basketball Players

Aims: The most widely used joint in the wheelchair basketball players is shoulder. The shoulder joint undergoes stressful situations during repetitive movements and overhead movements, resulting in pain. The aim of this study was to compare the strength of the rotating muscles of shoulder joint in the dominant and non-dominant organs, as well as to investigate their correlations with the pain level in the shoulders of male wheelchair basketball players. Instrument & Methods: In this descriptive correlational study with a relation survey, 50 male athletes of wheelchair basketball teams of Tehran and Alborz provinces, selected via purposeful non-random sampling method, were studied in 2014. MMT device was used to measure the strength of the rotating muscles in both zero degree and 45 degrees of shoulder abduction. Wheelchair users’ shoulder pain index (WUSPI) was used to measure the shoulder pain. Data was analyzed using paired-T test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Findings: There was a significant correlation between the strengths of the internal and external rotating muscles of dominant and non-dominant organs in zero and 45 degrees (p0.05). Conclusion: In male wheelchair basketball players, there is a correlation between the strengths of rotating muscles of dominant and non-dominant organs, but the strength of rotating muscles in the dominant organs is higher than non-dominants. In addition, there is a correlation between the strength of internal rotating muscles and the shoulder pain