Throwers Ten Exercises On Upper Extremity Function and Explosive Power in Wheelchair Basketball and Basketball Players

Basketball is a challenging sport that requires participants to demonstrate physical fitness and special athletic skills at high levels. Players avoid contact while attempting to prevent the opponent from running, passing and shooting. Although basketball includes avoiding contact as a rule, contact between players is inevitable. Various injuries occur in basketball because it is a contact sport and includes sudden movements, such as bouncing, running and turning.

Wheelchair (WC) basketball is characterised by manoeuvres and high-intensity activities such as rolling, rebounding, passing and overhead shooting. In WC basketball players, thoracic kyphosis is increased because of atrophy of the upper back and shoulders muscles resulting from the body posture required for WC propulsion in the sitting position as well as the effect of gravity. This sitting posture is characterised by scapular protraction and internal rotation of the humerus, and it impedes shoulder movements during upper-extremity use. The force balance changes because of humeral internal rotation and scapular protraction, and the internal rotator and adductor muscles become stronger than their antagonists. In basketball, throwing and pushing are used to pass the ball to the target. In throwing, the force of the dominant upper extremity comes into play with the internal rotation of the humerus. In this movement, the humerus is almost horizontal and parallel to the ground.

Increased use of the upper extremities in WC users increases upper-extremity load. For this reason, upper-extremity muscle strength, endurance and explosive power are of great importance. Rotational muscle strength of the shoulder has critical roles in activities specific to basketball as well as WC control in WC basketball players.

Overhead throwing is a movement that involves high speed and repetitive movement that leads to upper-extremity injuries. It is important to develop muscle strength and proprioception to protect against these injuries.

Throwers Ten exercise programme is a programme designed to improve the power, strength and endurance of large muscle groups required for the throwing activity. It consists of exercises involving the movement of upper limb joints in full range of joint motion (ROM) or at specified specific angles, with the help of a resistance band and weights specific to individual athletes. In a study conducted by Wilk et al., it was reported that muscle strength and endurance were improved by increasing muscle activation and facilitation, and achieving dynamic stabilisation by adding isometric contractions to the concentric/eccentric contractions applied in the Throwers Ten exercise programme.

In the literature, no study has demonstrated the effectiveness of Throwers Ten exercise programme in these sports groups. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Throwers Ten exercise programme on upper-extremity function and explosive power in the WC basketball players and stand-up basketball players. In addition, because the WC basketball players and stand-up basketball players were evaluated in this study, our secondary aim was to elucidate the differences in responses to the exercise programme between a group without lower-extremity use and incomplete strength distribution and a group with complete strength distribution.

Inclusion criteria

• Asymptomatic athletes
• Professional athlete who plays at least 10 years
• Subjects who are voluntary to participate in the study

Exclusion criteria

• Upper extremity related surgery in past 6 months
• Rotator cuff tears in past 3 months
• Current pain in shoulder and neck