Handball players have superior shoulder proprioception - a prospective controlled study.

BACKGROUND: Proper proprioceptive and neuromuscular control is crucial for the overhead athlete's performance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the shoulder joint position sense (JPS) levels in overhead throwing athletes. The secondary aim was to confront the proprioceptive abilities with glenohumeral adaptive changes and pathologies among athletes.

METHODS: Ninety professional handball players and 32 healthy volunteers were recruited. JPS levels were measured by an electronic goniometer and expressed as values of an active reproduction of the joint position (ARJP) and as error of ARJP (EARJP) in three different reference positions for each movement (abduction and flexion at 60°/90°/120°; internal (IR) and external rotation (ER) at 30°/45°/60°).

RESULTS: Side-to-side differences revealed significantly better values of EARJP for the throwing shoulders in abduction at 90° and 120°, flexion at 90° and 120°, IR at 60° and in ER at 30° and 60° compared to the non-throwing shoulders. Handball players showed significantly better proprioceptive levels in their throwing shoulder compared to the dominant shoulder of the control group in abduction at 90° (p=0.037) and 120° (p=0.001), flexion at 120° (p=0.035), IR at 60° (p=0.045) and in ER at 60° (p=0.012).

DISCUSSION: Handball players present superior shoulder JPS in their dominant throwing shoulder at high range of motion angles when compared to a non-athlete population and to their own non-dominant shoulder.