Retrospective Study
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World J Clin Cases. Aug 26, 2022; 10(24): 8514-8524
Published online Aug 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i24.8514
Correlation analysis of national elite Chinese male table tennis players’ shoulder proprioception and muscle strength
Xue-Dong Shang, En-Ming Zhang, Zhen-Lei Chen, Lei Zhang, Jing-Hua Qian
Xue-Dong Shang, Institute of Sport Medicine, National Research Institute of Sports Medicine, Beijing 100061, China
En-Ming Zhang, Jing-Hua Qian, School of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhen-Lei Chen, School of Physical Education, Hubei University of Education, Wuhan 430205, Hubei Province, China
Lei Zhang, Graduate School, Shandong Sport University, Jinan 250102, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Shang XD and Zhang EM contributed equally to this work; both Shang XD and Qian JH are the corresponding authors; Shang XD, Zhang EM, Chen ZL, Zhang L and Qian JH designed the research study; Shang XD, Zhang EM, and Qian JH performed the research; Shang XD, Zhang EM, Chen ZL and Zhang L analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; and all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Exercise Science Experiment of Beijing Sport University Institutional Review Board (Approval No.2021075H).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xue-Dong Shang, MMed, Associate Chief Physician, Institute of Sport Medicine, National Research Institute of Sports Medicine, No. 4 Tiyuguanxi Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100061, China. sf2862@163.com
Received: February 22, 2022
Peer-review started: February 22, 2022
First decision: March 23, 2022
Revised: March 28, 2022
Accepted: July 18, 2022
Article in press: July 18, 2022
Published online: August 26, 2022
Processing time: 174 Days and 17.3 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

With the constant change of the rules of table tennis, more and more table tennis players emerge, which puts forward higher requirements for the awareness of landing point and the coordination of hitting. The sense of motion and position in proprioception is of great significance to the control of limbs and the judgment of landing points, so the proprioception of table tennis players is evaluated and tested.

Research motivation

Shoulders are the most injured part in table tennis players because the joint has multiple roles in transmitting power and striking the center of the ball during the stroke. Proprioception is strongly correlated with high level of athletic performance. It is customary to assume that there is a correlation between proprioception and muscle strength, and therefore, proprioceptive assessment and rehabilitation are often neglected.

Research objectives

This study was performed to investigate the correlation between isokinetic muscle strength and proprioception in the internal and external rotation muscle groups of elite Chinese male table tennis players, to provide reference for physical training and rehabilitation.

Research methods

The subjects were elite players from the Chinese National Table Tennis Team. All of them had > 10 years’ training experience and had participated in major competitions such as the National Games and World Youth Championships. IsoMed 2000 was used to test the peak torque of internal and external rotation isokinetic concentric contraction of the athletes’ bilateral shoulder joints at low speed (60°/s) and high speed (180°/s). IsoMed 2000 was used to conduct the Joint Position Reproduction test to evaluate the athletes’ proprioceptive capacity at low speed (60°/s) and high speed (180°/s).

Research results

At slow speed and fast speed, there is no direct linear relationship between hand strength and proprioceptive correlation analysis. At slow speed and fast speed, there is a moderate positive correlation except for internal spin variable error (VE) and external spin relative peak torque. The internal rotation constant errors (CE) and VE were 1.06 ± 3.99 and 2.94 ± 2.16 for handgrip, and -3.36 ± 2.39 and 1.22 ± 0.93 for non-handgrip. The internal rotation CE and VE of handgrip were significantly lower than those of non-handgrip (P < 0.01).

Research conclusions

There was no correlation between muscle strength and proprioceptive function in the internal and external rotation of the shoulder of the racket-holding hand in elite Chinese male table tennis players. These results may be useful for interventions for shoulder injuries and for the inclusion of proprioceptive training in rehabilitation programs.

Research perspectives

Proprioception is a complex concept, and this study only explored the sense of position and movement, but did not study the sense of speed and force. It also links proprioception to specific tests, such as hitting points, which can help improve performance.