Description

Badminton is a worldwide popular racquet sport. In badminton, the player uses a variety of multidirectional movement patterns quickly in succession to execute defensive/counterattacking retrievals or construct offensive plays. Although badminton is considered a relatively safe sport, shoulder injuries are very common among both recreational and competitive players.

Badminton injuries are most common of all sports injuries. To meet the functional requirements of their particular activity, overhead athletes need to maintain a careful balance of shoulder mobility and stability. It has been noted that overhead athletes have altered shoulder mobility, which is assumed to arise from adaptive structural alterations to the joint brought on by the high physiological demands of overhead activity.

The scapulothoracic articulation and the glenohumeral joint make up the shoulder complex, which divides the range of motion and increases it. This composition places the glenoid beneath the humeral head to support some of the arm's weight, allowing the implicated muscles to perform in the most productive portion of their length-tension curve.

In the scientific literature, studies on injuries and trauma related to badminton predominate however, some authors report that there are few scientific studies on the relationship between non-serious injuries such as overuse injuries and the history of shoulder pain. Shoulder pain is a very common musculoskeletal complaint in recreational, national, and international competitive players.

Shoulder instability encompasses a spectrum of diseases ranging from subluxation to frank dislocation. While a lot of instability occurrences happen after trauma, instability can also result through recurrent attenuation of the capsuloligamentous structures near the shoulder.

During subluxation, the humeral head translates beyond normal physiological limits, but maintains contact with the glenoid, often resulting in translation to, but not beyond the glenoid rim. While subluxation is often overlooked, it can be problematic, especially in overhead athletes.

Shoulder girdle motion is complex and involves synchronous movement of the scapula, clavicle, and humerus. Two-dimensional (2D and more recently three dimensional (3D) measurement techniques have been used to describe this motion. As the arm is raised, the generally accepted pattern of motion at the shoulder is as follows; the scapula upwardly rotates, posteriorly tilts, and externally rotates; the clavicle elevates and retracts; and the humerus elevates and externally rotates. This coordinated motion, which is reliant on capsulo-ligamentous structures and neuromuscular control, is crucial for the shoulder girdle's correct operation.

There is currently insufficient research on the causes of shoulder pain in badminton players, as far as we could find in our search. Increased age, shorter height, hard training intensity, and more training hours per week, were found to be risk factors for shoulder pain in studies on other overhead motion sports, such as baseball.

There is very limited research purely investigating the short-term effect of overhead play such as single badminton matches. Hence, this study aims to analyze the effects of a single badminton match on young elite players of Rawalpindi and how it affects day-to-day shoulder movement in players.