Correlation between Core Stability and Upper-Extremity Performance in Male Collegiate Athletes

The acute effects of brace use on lower extremity performance in individuals with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

BACKGROUND

Braces have been a popular treatment option for scoliosis among healthcare professionals for many years. However, the effect of braces on scoliosis treatment remains a subject of ongoing debate and research.

AIMS

Our study aimed to evaluate the effects of wearing a spinal brace on vertical jump, postural control, reach distance, and fall risk in patients with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS).

METHODS

We included 33 patients with AIS aged between 10 to 18 years old in our cross-sectional study. Patients were randomly subjected to vertical jump test, standing long jump test, timed up and go test, postural control, and forward reach test, while wearing and not wearing the scoliosis brace, respectively.

RESULTS

Our findings revealed that patients wearing scoliosis braces had significantly lower vertical jumps (p = .001), standing long jumps (p < .001), and forward reach distances with their dominant (p = .002) and non-dominant limbs (p = .007) compared to those who did not wear the brace. However, there was no significant difference in postural control and timed up and go test between the two groups (p > .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that wearing a scoliosis brace may negatively affect an individual's vertical and standing long jumps, and forward reach distances. However, wearing or not wearing the brace had no significant effect on postural control and timed stand-up test. Long-term follow-up studies are needed to evaluate the overall effectiveness of scoliosis braces in treating AIS.

Correlations between core muscle strength endurance and upper-extremity performance in adolescent male sub-elite handball players

Handball is an Olympic contact sport with high physical, tactical, and technical demands by the players. Out of the different techniques, throwing is the most important one to be able to score. The objective of the study was to investigate the relationships between core muscle strength endurance (Bourban test: ventral, dorsal and lateral chain) and shoulder mobility/stability (Upper Quarter Y Balance test [YBT-UQ]) as well as throwing velocity in adolescent male sub-elite handball players (N = 32, age: 17.1 ± 0.7 years, height: 181.8 ± 6.3 cm, BMI: 24.6 ± 4.9 kg/m2). All participants were free of injuries at least two weeks prior to the study, experienced (training experience: 8.5 ± 3.3 years) handball players who were tested mid-season in the evening of one of their training sessions. Pearson correlations were calculated for core muscle strength endurance with (a) shoulder mobility/stability and (b) throwing velocity. The throwing arm reach displayed significant correlations (both p &lt; 0.05) between the Bourban test (ventral chain) and the inferolateral reach direction (IL) of the YBT-UQ (r = 0.41) as well as the composite score (CS) (r = 0.34). For the dorsal chain, significant correlations (all p &lt; 0.01) were found for the medial (MD) (r = 0.42) and IL (r = 0.61) reach direction as well as the CS (r = 0.51). For the right but not the left side of the lateral chain, significant correlations (both p &lt; 0.05) were detected for the IL reach direction (r = 0.40) and the CS (r = 0.35). For the non-throwing arm reach, significant correlations were found between the ventral chain and the MD reach direction (r = 0.53, p &lt; 0.01) as well as the CS (r = 0.31, p &lt; 0.05). For the dorsal chain, significant correlations (all p &lt; 0.01) were found for the MD (r = 0.47) and IL (r = 0.44) reach direction as well as the CS (r = 0.41). For the lateral chain, significant correlations were detected for the MD (left and right side: r = 0.49, p &lt; 0.01) and IL (left and right side: r = 0.35, p &lt; 0.05) reach direction as well as the CS (left and right side: r = 0.37, p &lt; 0.05). The dorsal chain but not the ventral and lateral chain of the Bourban test showed a significant correlation with throwing velocity (r = 0.33, p &lt; 0.05). Our results indicate that better core muscle strength endurance is associated with better shoulder mobility/stability as well as partially higher throwing velocity of adolescent male sub-elite handball players. Therefore, practitioners should integrate core muscle strength endurance exercises into the training routines to improve upper-extremity performance of this target group.

Effects of a 6 week core strengthening training on measures of physical and athletic performance in adolescent male sub-elite handball players

The objective was to investigate the effects of a 6-week core strengthening training within the regular handball training sessions compared to regular handball training only. Male sub-elite handball players were randomly assigned to an intervention (INT: n = 13; age: 16.9 ± 0.6 years) or a control (CON: n = 13; age: 17.2 ± 0.8 years) group. The INT group performed the "big 3" core exercises cross curls-up, side bridge (both sides), and the quadrupedal stance ("birddog exercise") triweekly for 20-30 min while the CON group conducted regular handball training only. Pre- and post-training assessments included measures of muscular endurance (Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test [CKCUEST] and the Bourban test), shoulder mobility/stability (Upper Quarter Y Balance [YBT-UQ] test), and throwing velocity. The ANCOVA revealed significant differences between means in favour of the INT group for the dorsal chain (p < 0.001,η p 2 = 0.46) and the lateral chain (left side: p = 0.015,η p 2 = 0.22; right side: p = 0.039,η p 2 = 0.17) of the Bourban test, the composite score (p = 0.024,η p 2 = 0.20) of the throwing arm reach and the inferolateral reach direction (p = 0.038,η p 2 = 0.17), and the composite score (p = 0.027,η p 2 = 0.19) of the non-throwing arm reach of the YBT-UQ. However, performance in the CKCUEST and throwing velocity did not show any group-specific changes. Therefore, 6 weeks of core strengthening training were effective in improving some components of physical but no handball-specific athletic (i.e., throwing velocity) performance in adolescent male sub-elite handball players. Practitioners may still opt for this training regimen when stimulus variability is sought or when a low load/low movement approach (e.g., during rehabilitation) is favoured.