Effect of Shoulder Taping on Maximum Shoulder External and Internal Rotation Range in Uninjured and Previously Injured Overhead Athletes during a Seated Throw

The purpose of our study was to investigate whether shoulder taping affects shoulder kinematics in injured and previously injured overhead athletes during a seated throw. Twenty-six overhead college athletes threw a handball three times with and without tape, while seated on a chair. An 8-camera Vicon Motion Capture system recorded markers placed on the upper limb and trunk during each of the throwing conditions. Scaled musculoskeletal models of the upper limb were created using OpenSim and inverse kinematics used to obtain relevant joint angles. Shoulder taping had no main effect on external (ER) and internal (IR) rotation range (ROM) of the shoulder, but a significant interaction effect was found (p = 0.003 and 0.02, respectively), depending on previous injury status, whereby both the ER and IR ROM of the shoulder in the group of previously injured athletes decreased when taped (143-138 degrees and 54-51 degrees, respectively), but increased in the group who had never been injured (131-135 degrees and 42-44 degrees, respectively). Maximum abduction range and ball velocity were not affected by the application of shoulder taping, regardless of previous injury status. Thus, application of shoulder taping has a differential effect on maximum shoulder ER and IR ROM during throwing depending on previous injury status. These findings have implications for returning athletes to sport after injury and for screening athletes at risk of injury. (C) 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 29: 1406-1411, 2011