Comparison of Upper Limb Disability in Overhead Women Athletes of Handball, Volleyball, Softball, and Swimming

Abstract

Purpose: The shoulder joint is one of the most commonly injured joints in sports and may lead to disability, especially in the upper extremities of overhead players (handball, volleyball, softball, and swimming). Methods: This research is a causal-comparative study. After the approval of the Ethics Committee of the Medical University of Tehran, this study was conducted on 120 overhead athletes (Mean±SD height: 1.69±0.07 m, Mean±SD weight: 63.54±7.79 kg, Mean±SD age: 21.96±2.94 years, Mean±SD body mass index: 22.11±2.32 kg/m2). The inclusion criteria were elite female players in overhead sports with at least three years of experience in one of these sports (handball, volleyball, softball, and swimming). Samples with a history of surgery or cervical nerve problems, fractures in the shoulder area, and inflammatory joint disease were excluded from the study. The demographic information was obtained through a researcher-made questionnaire, and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) Questionnaire was used to measure the degree of upper limb disability in daily activities. Results: In comparison between the study groups, a significant difference was observed between the dependent variable (DASH) and the research groups (F=6.067, df=3, P=0.002, Eta=0.342). Using the Bonferroni post hoc tests, the difference between volleyball and softball (P=0.44), volleyball and swimming (P=0.009), and handball and swimming players (P=0.022) were reported. In the next step, BMI characteristics, weekly training hours, and the number of training sessions per week were entered into the data analysis process as covariate variables (F=8.099, df=0.3, P=0.000, Eta=0.432). The Bonferroni post hoc test indicates the difference between volleyball and swimming athletes (P=0.001) and handball and swimming (P=0.002). Conclusion: The present study results indicate a high rate of upper limb disability in elite women athletes. The present study results showed no difference between volleyball and handball due to the nature of these two disciplines and handball, softball, and swimming.

Prevalence of upper extremity pain and disability in elite football, ice hockey and floorball players

“…Many studies addressing upper limb injuries and pain tend to concentrate on sports involving overhead movements or throwing, such as handball [17][18][19][20], tennis [21,22], volleyball [18,19,23], baseball [24,25], judo [20], boxing [26,27] or water polo [28,29]. However, these studies exhibit variations in their research methodologies and diagnostic tools.…”

Upper extremities functional disability and pain intensity in female volleyball athletes: cross-sectional study

“…Specifically in volleyball modality, authors 19 verified that athletes with rotator cuff lesions presented higher general and specific functional disability when compared to athletes without lesions. A study 20 showed a greater functional disability of the upper limb in female athletes practicing volleyball, when compared to softball and swimming athletes, and they did not find a significant difference in handball athletes, considering the similarity of attack and throwing movements. A study 21 evaluated 15 volleyball athletes in the juvenile category, associating pain by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH), and identified low pain intensities and little functional limitation, with no significant difference in the general and specific functional performance related to the sport.…”