Context:
Fatigue of the shoulder rotator muscles may negatively affect joint position sense (JPS) and ultimately lead to injury.
Objective:
Recovery of shoulder JPS after muscle fatigue.
Design:
A repeated-measures study.
Setting:
Musculoskeletal research laboratory.
Patients:
Thirteen subjects participated in joint position error tests and isokinetic concentric strength assessment in shoulder rotation, before and after rotator muscle fatigue.
Interventions:
Local muscle fatigue was induced using isokinetic concentric contractions of the shoulder rotator muscles.
Main Outcome Measurements:
Shoulder rotator strength and JPS error signals were measured before fatigue, immediately after fatigue, and every ten minutes thereafter for one hour.
Results:
Before shoulder rotation muscle fatigue, the accuracy of shoulder JPS was 2.79 ± 1.67 degrees. After muscle fatigue, the accuracy decreased to 6.39 ± 2.90 degrees. Shoulder JPS was influenced up to 40 minutes after muscle fatigue, but shoulder strength was only affected for 10 minutes after muscle fatigue.
Conclusions:
Proprioceptive recovery was slower than strength following fatigue of the shoulder rotators.
