Shoulder Impingement in Volleyball Players

Volleyball is a sport of repetitive motions; therefore, it puts certain muscle groups at risk for overuse and/or injury. For example, a volley serve puts the external rotator muscles in the shoulder on a full stretch repeatedly; those specific motions can put a shoulder at risk for injury.1 The shoulder houses various muscles and tendons that all work together to allow lots of movement in every direction including flexion, extension, abduction, external rotation, etc.2 The most common shoulder injury in volleyball is impingement of the shoulder.2 This happens when the upper arm is routinely lifted above the shoulder and pulls the shoulder through a full range of motion excessively.2 The word “impingement” means the entrapping or pinching of a muscle or nerve which leads to symptoms of either numbness/tingling, pain, or lack of range of motion.2 Attackers in volleyball are the ones most likely to suffer from this injury due to constant “abduction and the over-stretching of their glenohumeral joint.”2

 

Preventative maintenance care is the first and foremost way of handling any injury. Warming up the muscle as well as good stretching techniques are good injury prevention methods to make sure impingement does not flare up. In the case that it does, focusing on the tendons within the capsule to loosen up the tension is important.2 It is common in volleyball players to have an imbalance between the internal and external rotator muscles such as your infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis muscles; therefore these specific muscles are more vulnerable to impingements.2 Due to the imbalance, it is crucial to provide a stretching and strengthening program to balance out that difference as much as possible.2 Maintaining a consistent stretching and strengthening program by working on all the muscles affected by this injury will ultimately lead to a less chronic situation and will put your patient’s shoulder and mind at ease.

References:

1Briner, W., & Kacmar, L. (1997). Common injuries in volleyball: mechanisms of injury, prevention and rehabilitation. Sports Medicine, 24(1), 65-71.

2Seminati, E., & Minetti, A. E. (2013). Overuse in volleyball training/practice: A review on shoulder and spine-related injuries. European Journal Of Sport Science, 13(6), 732-743.