Comparison of Upper Extremity Isokinetic Muscle Strength of Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Table Tennis Players
Bihter Akınoğlu1
, Tuğba Kocahan2, Ahmet Buğra Selvi1
1Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey
2Directorate of Health Affairs, General Directorate of Sports, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Wheelchair, muscle strength, basketball, tennis
Abstract
Objectives: To compare the isokinetic muscle strength of shoulder internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) muscles in wheelchair (WC) basketball and WC table tennis players. The hypothesis of our study is that the upper limbs of WC basketball players who use the WC more actively during competitions and training would be stronger.
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out by measuring the isokinetic muscle strength of shoulder IR and ER muscles of 12 WC basketball and nine WC table tennis players with a median age of 24 years. Isokinetic muscle strength measurement was performed concentrically in the scapular neutral position with an IsoMed 2000® device. Data analysis was made using the SPSS 20.0 package program. Median and minimum-maximum values were given as descriptive statistics; Mann Whitney-U test was used to determine differences between groups.
Results: It was determined that WC basketball and WC table tennis players have similar isokinetic muscle strengths of shoulder IR and ER muscles. There were no statistically significant differences between peak torque, peak torque / body weight, peak torque angle, muscle strength ratios, and dominant-non-dominant side strength ratios, at both 60º/s and 180º/s angular velocities (p>0.05).
Conclusion: It has been determined that using the WC more actively during competitions and training in WC basketball players does not appear to increase shoulder IR and ER muscle strength, comparing with WC table tennis players.
Cite this article as: Akinoglu B, Kocahan T, Selvi AB. Comparison of upper extremity isokinetic muscle strength of wheelchair basketball and wheelchair table tennis players. Turk J Sports Med. 2018;53(4):160-66.
