Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study is to introduce the new stretching technique of the shoulder posterior tightness (F-K stretching), which modified the internal rotation stretching technique by Johansen (JOSPT, 1995).
Methods: We studied sixty throwing athletes with a mean age of 17.6 years old. The F-K stretching was performed as follows: They lay prone with their shoulder abducted at 90 degrees and rotated internally. First, they had a massage of the lateral and posterior scapular muscles such as infraspinatus, latissimus dorsi, teres major and minor, and triceps brachii. When they didn't have enough improvement of the posterior tightness, they secondarily received a massage of the anterior scapular muscles such as subscapularis and serratus anterior. We examined them on internal and external rotation, and total arc of the throwing shoulder at 90-degrees' abduction before and after the F-K stretching. We statistically compared those ranges before and after the stretching.
Results: There was little improvement of the external rotation after the stretching. As for the internal rotation and total arc, all cases had statistical improvement after the stretching to an almost equal range, compared with those of the non-throwing shoulder.
Conclusion: Our new stretching technique was one of the most effective stretching techniques to improve the posterior tightness of the throwing shoulder in athletes.
