Multicomponent stretching and rubber band strengthening exercises do not reduce overuse shoulder injuries: a cluster randomised controlled trial with 579 handball athletes

Review written by Dr Travis Pollen info

Key Points

  1. Overuse shoulder injuries are prevalent in handballers, but few prevention studies have been conducted on these athletes.
All key points available for members only
Start free trial Icon
Or log in here

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE

Despite high prevalence of overuse shoulder injuries in both male and female handball, few shoulder injury prevention studies have been conducted on handballers. One previous cluster-randomized controlled trial from 2016 (1) included 660 elite male and female handball players and found that a shoulder injury prevention program reduced the average prevalence of shoulder injuries by 6% (23% in the intervention group vs. 17% in the control group).

The purpose of this cluster-randomized controlled trial was to determine the effectiveness of a shoulder injury prevention program on male and female handballers, including a variety of levels of play (recreational, amateur, and professional). The authors expected a 10% reduction in shoulder injury prevalence in the intervention group compared to the control group.

Despite high prevalence of overuse shoulder injuries in handball, few shoulder injury prevention studies have been conducted in this sport.
bulb
It may be important to focus on the athlete’s entire kinetic chain to help prevent overuse shoulder injuries in throwing athletes.

METHODS

A total of 68 male and female German handball teams (players >16 years old) were randomly allocated to the intervention or control group. The control group “continued their usual training modules.” The intervention group performed a shoulder injury prevention program

Start free trial Icon
to unlock full access to this review and 1109 more
Or log in here
Trustpilot