A Scoping Review on Shoulder Injuries of Wheelchair Tennis Players: Potential Risk-Factors and Musculoskeletal Adaptations.
Laura Mayrhuber, Thomas Rietveld, Wiebe de Vries and 3 others
PMID 36189002WHAT IT FOUND
Wheelchair tennis players face shoulder risks from overhead motion and muscle imbalances, but evidence is scarce.
Most studies included few participants and used different outcome measures, so specific risk factors remain proposed rather than proven.
Key findings
01Overhead movements and repetitive activation of the anterior muscle chain are proposed risk factors for shoulder injuries in wheelchair tennis.
02Muscular imbalance with higher internal rotator strength and reduced total arc of motion are the most common proposed musculoskeletal adaptations.
03The review relies on a small number of low-quality studies, with only two papers adequately discussing external validity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only five papers specifically addressed wheelchair tennis, necessitating extrapolation from other sports. The included studies had a low number of participants. Quality assessment scores were generally low, with poor description of validity and reliability in many papers. Different studies used different outcome measures, making direct comparison difficult. Risk factors are largely 'proposed' rather than statistically proven due to the scarcity of high-quality research.
Declared interests
The authors declare no commercial or financial relationships.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these risk factors as confirmed causes. The review explicitly states that most risk factors are 'proposed' due to the low quality and small number of studies, and that shoulder load was never directly assessed in wheelchair tennis.