In the rehabilitation for throwing disorders, it is important to evaluate not only specific single joint range of
motion but also the range of motions containing several joints. The purpose of this study is to classify the several joint ranges of motion in the women's professional baseball players by multivariate analysis, and to examine the relationship among these data, performances and disorders.
Fifty four players belonging to the Japan Women's Professional Baseball League participated in this study.
External and internal rotations of shoulder, hip flexion, external rotation, abduction were measured. In addition, cervical rotation, thoracolumbar rotation, straight leg raising, and distance of heel buttock distance were easured.
Factor analysis by most promax rotation method in ranges of 19 variable motions performed, and we examine the
relationships between the presence and absence of disorders by classifying all players in cluster analysis (Ward
method). The six factors obtained by factor analysis from 19 variable motions were classified into three groups in
the form of a dendrogram by cluster analysis. The three groups were named as hard and strong group, intermediate
group, and soft and weak group. The number of players with disorders found in the soft and weak group was higher
than those found in other groups. Groups of larger hip joint range of motion showed association with disorders.
These results are useful to perform the conditioning for women's professional baseball players.
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