Presence of scapular dysfunction in dominant shoulder of professional guitar players.

BACKGROUND

Playing guitar can cause adoption of asymmetric postures and affect the shoulder's stability.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the presence of scapular dysfunction in professional guitar players.

METHOD: A lateral scapular slide test was performed at the level of the spine of the scapula and at the inferior angle of the scapula in 20 professional guitar players (age: 18-40 years) and was compared with 20 age-matched non-players at angles of 0°, 45° and 90° of shoulder abduction with both limbs loaded with 0.5-kg weights. Analysis was done by unpaired t test.

RESULTS

Scapular dysfunction in guitar players was seen in the form of asymmetric scapula at rest in 25% and dyskinetic scapula in 20% of players. 100% of non-players had normal scapular positioning. Comparison at the level of the spine of the scapula showed no significant difference (p > 0.05), but the inferior angle showed a significant difference at 0° (1.37 cm), 45° (1.93 cm) and 90° (2.15 cm) which was more in the player's category (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

There exists a marked dysfunction of scapular stabilizers in professional guitar players at the level of the inferior angle of the scapula.