Abstract
BackgroundTennis is believed to be potentially harmful for the shoulder, therefore the purpose of this study is to evaluate the anatomy of the rotator cuff and the coraco-humeral ligament (CHL) in a-symptomatic non-elite junior tennis players with high-resolution ultrasound (US).MethodsFrom August 2009 to September 2010 n = 90 a-symptomatic non-elite junior tennis players (mean age ± standard deviation: 15 ± 3) and a control group of age- and sex- matched subjects were included. Shoulder assessment with a customized standardized protocol was performed. Body mass index, dominant arm, years of practice, weekly hours of training, racket weight, grip (Eastern, Western and semi-Western), kind of strings were recorded.ResultsAbnormalities were found at ultrasound in 14/90 (15%) players. Two players had supraspinatus tendinosis, two had subacromial impingement and ten had subacromial bursitis. CHL thickness resulted comparable in the dominant and non-dominant arms (11.3 ± 4.4 mm vs. 13 ± 4.2, p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that no association was present among CHL thickness and the variables evaluated. In the control group, abnormalities were found at ultrasound in 6/60 (10%) subjects (sub-acromial bursitis). No statistically significant differences between players and control group were found (p = 0.71).ConclusionIn a-symptomatic non-elite junior tennis players only minor shoulder abnormalities were found.
Highlights
Tennis is believed to be potentially harmful for the shoulder, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the anatomy of the rotator cuff and the coraco-humeral ligament (CHL) in a-symptomatic non-elite junior tennis players with high-resolution ultrasound (US)
The biceps may dislocate over the intact subscapularis and the ruptured lateral part of the coracohumeral ligament can be demonstrated with US [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]
It is not known if shoulder abnormalities including rotator cuff tendons and coracohumeral ligament are detectable on high-resolution ultrasound in a-symptomatic junior tennis players
Summary
Tennis is believed to be potentially harmful for the shoulder, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the anatomy of the rotator cuff and the coraco-humeral ligament (CHL) in a-symptomatic non-elite junior tennis players with high-resolution ultrasound (US). Non-elite junior tennis players are supposed to have good technical skills, in technical learning process some adjustments occur [16] These adjustments may be responsible of shoulder soft-tissues injuries [17]. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no peer-reviewed ultrasound studies on non-elite junior tennis players including the entire anatomy of the shoulder It is not known if shoulder abnormalities including rotator cuff tendons and coracohumeral ligament are detectable on high-resolution ultrasound in a-symptomatic junior tennis players
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