Affiliations: [a] School of Physical Education and Sports, Final International University, Kyrenia, Cyprus | [b] School of Physical Education and Sports, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Shoulder muscle strength has vital importance during passing, spike, shooting and turning underwater. OBJECTIVE: To compare bilateral absolute and relative shoulder extension-flexion peak moments of volleyball, handball, underwater hockey, and badminton players and to determine whether the decline in the average moment, power, and work measures were consistent with observed bilateral peak moment relationships. METHOD: A total of 44 healthy male athletes (16 underwater hockey: 22.45 ± 2.06 years; 8 volleyball: 22.38 ± 3.29 years; 9 handball: 22.56 ± 1.60 years; 11 badminton: 21.40 ± 1.73 years) participated in the study. RESULTS: The differences between Dominant vs. non-dominant shoulder extension peak moment strength ratios (p< 0.05) were statistically significant among groups. There were significant differences between volleyball and badminton players in mean shoulder extension moment decline (p< 0.001) and mean shoulder extension work decline (p< 0.05) in the dominant side from the first to the third set. CONCLUSION: Peak moment only measurements could be inadequate to determine strength discrepancies among different sports branches and the assessment of the declines in the average moment, work and power parameters between the sets may be more beneficial for the examination of shoulder strength characteristics in athletes.
Keywords: Moment, work, power, the range of motion, overhead sports
