Baseline Functional Testing in Competitive Youth Swimmers

Abstract

Background: Shoulder injuries are very prevalent in youth adolescent swimmers. As a result, there has been increasing focus on testing athletes post injury using functional testing to assess whether the athlete is ready to return to sports activity. Specifically, the closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability test (CKCUEST) and two versions of a prone ball drop test with elbow straight and elbow bent have been suggested. In order for these functional tests to be used for return to activity decision making normative values for different populations must first be established.

Hypothesis/purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish normative values for the CKCUEST and prone ball drop tests in the elbow extended and elbow bent positions in a population of uninjured competitive youth swimmers.

Study design: Observational Cross-Sectional Study.

Methods: Fifty-three swimmers without active shoulder pain were recruited from a single competitive swimming club. The CKCUEST as well as prone ball drop at 90 degrees of abduction with elbow straight and with elbow bent at 90 degrees were performed in a randomized order. All subjects were tested prior to the beginning of competition for the year. Participants were then categorized into subgroups by sex and age(10-14 or 15-18). Descriptive statistics were analyzed for all tests and groups were compared using two sample t-tests.

Results: Among this youth population CKCUEST demonstrated mean of 17.8 ± 3.5 touches with increased ball drop with elbow extended on the dominant vs non-dominant arm (31.8 ± 12.1 vs 28.6 ± 11.0 reps) as well as with elbow bent to 90 degrees (43.7 ± 13.6 vs 39.6 ± 15.4 reps). Additionally, there were differences in repetitions when groups were split by age with the 15-18 year old group demonstrating significant (p<0.05) increase vs the younger group across all testing.

Conclusion: Baseline values in an uninjured competitive youth swimming population are provided for three commonly described upper extremity functional tests.

Level of evidence: Level 3.

Keywords: Functional Test; Humans; Return to Sport; Shoulder; Swimming.