A Comparison Between Foam Rolling and Dynamic Stretch on Throwing Velocity and Accuracy Among Male Handball Players

Sammanfattning: The monotonous and strenuous shoulder moving pattern during throwing may result in microtrauma and fibrous adhesions between the layers of fascia among athletes. In the last decade, self myofascial release (SMR) has gained good reputation as a way to treat these adhesions. However, there is limited data demonstrating the effects on upper body performance among athletes. PURPOSE: The purpose was to examine the effects from an acute bout of upper body SMR or from dynamic stretch (DS), on shoulder range of motion (ROM), throwing velocity and throwing accuracy. Also to examine correlations between shoulder ROM and throwing velocity/accuracy and between playing experience (PE) and changes in throwing velocity/accuracy and ROM. METHODS: 20 elite male handball players (age 20 ± 5 years, weight 84 ± 9 kg) were included in the study. The study had an experimental cross-over design in which participants first performed baseline measures. They also performed SMR and DS in two different trials. The trials were supervised and separated by 14 days. During SMR, the athletes performed a series of foam rolling exercises during two minutes for the muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. The same muscles were stretched for two minutes during the DS trial. Directly after foam rolling and DS, shoulder ROM, throwing velocity and throwing accuracy were measured using a gravity reference goniometer, radar gun and a high speed videocamera. ANOVA with repeated measures and t-tests were used to analyze differences between and within groups. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in either shoulder ROM, throwing velocity or throwing accuracy between the three trials. There was a moderate correlation between shoulder extension and mean accuracy (r = 0.62; p = 0.004) after DS. When dividing the group into high and low experienced players, among the players in the PE-low group, the most experienced players elicited the greatest increase in peak throwing velocity after DS (r = 0.58; p = 0.10). Change in peak accuracy showed moderate but conflicting correlations after SMR (r = -0.53; p = 0.09) and DS (r = 0.50; p = 0.11) for the players in the PE-high group, indicating a better result after SMR. CONCLUSION: An acute bout of upperbody SMR does not affect ROM and does not improve throwing velocity or throwing accuracy compared to baseline or DS among elite male handball players. Nor could any correlation between ROM and throwing velocity or throwing accuracy be observed. The associations between PE and throwing performance was inconclusive. Further studies is needed to define if PE should be taken into consideration when using SMR or DS in order to improve throwing performance.