Handedness Influences Passive Shoulder Range of Motion in Nonathlete Adult Women
Received 4 June 2008; received in revised form 15 August 2008; accepted 9 September 2008.
Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this study was to determine whether handedness influences bilateral shoulder range of motion in nonathlete adult women.
Methods
This was an observational study. Shoulder range of motion (flexion, abduction, horizontal adduction, extension, external and internal rotation) was passively and bilaterally measured in 50 female, right-handed, and healthy university students, ranging from 20 to 29 years of age, who were not practicing repetitive activities with the upper limbs at the time of this study. The assessment was performed with a universal goniometer, twice for each subject by the same examiner. The first and second measurements were correlated using the intraclass correlation coefficient, which was high for all movements and ranged from 0.80 to 0.97. The Student t test and Wilcoxon test were used to compare the range of motion between the dominant and nondominant shoulders and the mean differences between the 2 sides. The effect of size was α = .05.
Results
There is statistically significance difference between the 2 sides when the rotational range of motion is compared; the dominant shoulder presented increased external rotation (mean, 4.74°; 95% confidence interval, 1.61-7.87) and decreased internal rotation (mean, 3.52°; 95% confidence interval, 1.64-5.4) compared to the opposite shoulder.
Conclusion
Dominance should be considered when shoulder rotation is evaluated even in nonathlete adult women.
aPhysiotherapist, Department of Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine/ University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
bProfessor, Department of Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine/ University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
cProfessor, Department of Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine/ University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
dProfessor, Department of Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine/ University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Submit requests for reprints to: Sílvia Maria Amado-João, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Rua Cipotânia, 51, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05360-160 Sao Paulo–SP, Brazil.
Funding sources. Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo provided only financial support for this study, without any role in the study design, in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
ABSTRACT