Exercise therapy may affect scapular position and motion in individuals with scapular dyskinesis: a systematic review of clinical trials

Abstract

Therapeutic exercisefor scapular muscles is suggested to be effective in reducing shoulder pain in patients with rotator cuff disorders, whereas its effectiveness on scapular position and motionhas remained unclear. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to investigate whether exercise therapy improves scapular position and motion in individuals with scapular dyskinesis. This study is a wide systematic review including any typeof clinical trial in which the effectof any typeof therapeutic exercise, including scapular muscle strengthening, stretching, and scapular stabilization exercise, is investigated in adult participants. Twenty studies were included in this systematic review. Studies were categorized on the basis of the techniques they used to measure scapular position and motionand the included participants. Methodologicquality of the studies was assessed by the Cochrane tool of assessing the risk of bias. Eight studies used 3-dimensional techniques for measuring scapular motions. Among them, 5 studies showed significant effects of exercise on scapular motion, of which 3 studies investigated individuals with subacromial impingement syndrome (SIS). The other 12 studies used 2-dimensional measurement techniques, of which 8 studies reported significant effects of exercise on scapular position and motionboth in SIS patients and in asymptomatic individuals. However, their methodologicquality was debatable. Therefore, there was conflicting evidencefor the effectof exercise on scapular dyskinesis. There is a lack of evidence for beneficial effects of exercise in improving scapular position and motion in individuals with scapular dyskinesis. However, exercise is beneficial in reducing pain and disability in individuals with SIS.