Discussion
shoulder injury, contracture, shoulder pain, pain
POSTERIOR
The results of the present study show significant improvements in both groups' DASH scores and IR ROM. However, no significant differences were observed when both groups were compared, indicating that both stretchings were equally effective in improving DASH scores and IR ROM. Therefore, any of these two stretchings can be used for these purposes.Posterior shoulder contracture is a common cause of shoulder pain in people with restricted IR or glenohumeral internal rotation deficiency (GIRD)The two stretching interventions used in the present study, MSS and MCBS, stretched the posterior soft tissues of the shoulder joint, thereby increasing the glenohumeral IR ROM and decreasing the posterior shoulder stiffness. IR ROM increased by 94.64% in MSSG and 89.52% in MCBSG. Although greater improvement was observed in MSSG than in MCBSG, this difference was not statistically significant. A similarly greater difference was observed in DASH scores in MSSG than in MCBSG (decreased by 85% in MSSG and 79.60% in MCBSG); this difference was also not statistically significant. The non-statistically significant difference between both groups for both outcome measures could be due to the present study's small sample size (n = 30). A large sample size may reveal a statistically significant difference between MSSG and MCBSG.Overhead athletes commonly perform posterior shoulder stretching as a part of the shoulder injury prevention program. Burkhart et al.Tyler et al.Salamh et al.Several limitations and scopes for future research should be mentioned, like that the ROM measurements were performed manually, leading to the possibility of human error and reducing the study's accuracy. The participants selected in the present study were without pain or symptoms. The study should be carried out on participants with pain and other symptoms and a large sample size to establish greater generalizability. Future studies should also be carried out in different overhead sports, and long-term follow-up is needed.