Comparison of Shoulder Muscle Strength of Deaf and Healthy Basketball Players

Purpose: It has still not been made clear whether the audio inputs from the environment may have on the muscle strength characteristics of people who spend long periods of their lives with hearing loss. The purpose is to evaluate shoulder muscle strength and endurance of deaf basketball (DB) players and to compare them with healthy basketball (HB) players. Methods: The study was carried out with a total of 26-man players including 13 players (years: 24±3) in DB group and 13 players (years: 22±2) in HB group. Internal rotator (IR) and external rotator (ER) muscles strength of shoulder dominant and non-dominant side was measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. Results: According to isokinetic test results, there was not a difference between two groups on either dominant or nondominant side in terms of ER and IR Nm/kg (p>0.05). The ER / IR ratio was different between the two groups in favor of HB players (p=0.017). The strength parameters of dominant extremities of players in both groups were found to be higher than nondominant extremity. Conclusions: As a result, IR and ER muscle strengths were similar in two groups, both groups were at risk for musculoskeletal injuries in terms of ER/IR ratio. It could be speculated that it is essential to design training programs with additional ER strengthening exercises to improve the balance between IR and ER muscles and minimize risk of injury. The dominant extremity was found to be stronger in both groups. In our opinion, symmetrical movement patterns will positively affect performance on dominant extremity. © 2019 AME Publishing Company