The Effects Of Differing Density Of Swim-Training Sessions On Shoulder Range Of Motion and Isometric Force Production In National and University Level Swimmers.
Matias Yoma, Lee Herrington, Tanya Mackenzie
PMID 37020450WHAT IT FOUND
University-level swimmers had lower shoulder strength at baseline and showed greater drops in range of motion and strength after a single hard training session compared to national-level swimmers.
These changes were clinically meaningful for the university group but did not reach statistical significance for most measures due to the small sample size.
Key findings
01University swimmers had significantly lower baseline shoulder internal and external rotator torque than national swimmers.
02After a high-intensity session, university swimmers experienced significant decreases in external rotation range of motion and rotator torque on their dominant side, while national swimmers showed no significant changes.
03The difference in post-swim changes between the two groups was only statistically significant for external rotator torque on the dominant side.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 10 participants (5 per group), which is far below the 16 per group needed to detect the observed changes with confidence, making the results underpowered and prone to type II errors. The sample consisted only of male swimmers aged 17-20 with similar experience, so findings cannot be generalized to females, older athletes, or those with different training histories. The training sessions were not standardized in structure or intensity beyond volume and duration, as they were the 'hardest' session for each individual group, which may have varied in content. The study measured acute changes after a single session and did not follow participants to see if these changes were associated with actual shoulder pain or injury.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest or funding sources are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of significant differences between groups for most outcomes as evidence that the two levels of swimmers respond similarly to training. The study was severely underpowered with only five participants per group, and the authors explicitly state that the sample size was too small to confidently detect differences between the groups.