Shoulder pain and ultrasound findings: A comparison study of wheelchair athletes, nonathletic wheelchair users, and nonwheelchair users.
Jennifer A Soo Hoo, Hyungtaek Kim, Julia Fram and 4 others
PMID 34028204WHAT IT FOUND
Wheelchair athletes did not have more shoulder pain or ultrasound-detected pathology than nonathletic wheelchair users.
Athletes exercised their shoulders more often. Basketball players reported higher pain scores, but the study was too small to confirm this as a risk.
Key findings
01Wheelchair athletes showed no significant difference in shoulder pain scores compared to nonathletic wheelchair users.
02Ultrasound examination found no significant difference in shoulder pathology prevalence or acromiohumeral distance between athletes and nonathletes.
03Wheelchair basketball athletes reported substantially higher pain scores than athletes in other wheelchair sports.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was very small, particularly the nonathletic wheelchair user group (n=6), which limits the ability to detect differences. The study population was predominantly male and local to Chicago, reducing generalizability to women or other regions. Participants had varied diagnoses (spinal cord injury, amputation, cerebral palsy), which may influence shoulder use and pain differently. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality between sports participation and shoulder health.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by NIH and non-U.S. government research grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that wheelchair sports are safe for all shoulders. The null finding regarding athletes versus nonathletes is driven by a very small sample size. The higher pain scores in basketball players suggest that overhead sports may still pose a risk that this study was underpowered to confirm.