Acromio-humeral distance in athletes’ shoulders

Mackenzie, TA, Herrington, LC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4732-1955, Horsley, I and Cools, A 2015, 'Acromio-humeral distance in athletes’ shoulders' , Annals of Sports Medicine and Research, 2 (7) , p. 1042.

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Abstract

Preservation of the acromio-humeral distance in athletes is important to prevent impingement of the rotator cuff tendons in the subacromial space. It is hypothesised that during arm abduction, the acromio-humeral distance is maintained in the athletic population, manifesting in a smaller percentage reduction of this measure when compared with non-athletes. This study investigates whether differences exist in percentage reduction of this space during arm abduction when comparing athletes and non-athletes. Thirty male controls and 93 sportsmen met the inclusion criteria. Thirty female controls and 30 sportswomen met the inclusion criteria. Measurements of acromio-humeral distance in the coronal plane were taken with ultrasound in two arm positions: one, shoulder neutral; and two, 60° of active abduction. Results show a greater percentage reduction in acromio-humeral distance in male controls compared with sportsmen when the arm is abducted to 60°, this does not achieve significance in the dominant shoulder (Δ=0.80% STD 2.60%, p=0.77) but is significant in the non-dominant shoulder (Δ=5.90% STD 2.50%, p = 0.02).A greater percentage reduction in acromio-humeral is present in female controls compared with sportswomen (Δ=10.76% STD 0.06%, p=0.01 dominant shoulder, Δ=15.54% STD 0.07%, p=0.02 non-dominant shoulder). The finding that elite athletes of both genders have a smaller percentage reduction in acromio-humeral distance during 60° arm abduction when compared with non-sporting controls may indicate an adaptive response in order to maintain acromio-humeral distance in the shoulder of athletes.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Health Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	Annals of Sports Medicine and Research
Publisher:	JSciMed Central
ISSN:	2379-0571
Related URLs:	Publication
Funders:	Non funded research
Depositing User:	USIR Admin
Date Deposited:	21 Dec 2015 13:10
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2022 20:07
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/37634

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