ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the literature for efficacy Gleno-humeral Internal Rotation Deficit and Risk of Upper Extremity Injury in Overhead Athletes DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, Ovid, and Google Scholar and Web of Science were searched for relevant studies published. STUDY SELECTION: A review of randomized controlled trials and quasi-experiments conducted in English language that assessed the effectiveness of Gleno-humeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD) and the risk of upper extremity injury in athletes who perform overhead movements. The review included seven randomized controlled trials and two quasi-experiments out of 5403, which involved a total of 360 participants. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers independently screened the articles, scored methodological quality, and extracted data for analysis. The review was conducted and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews. All studies were assessed in duplicate for risk of bias using the Physiotherapy Evidence Database Scale for randomized controlled trials. DATA SYNTHESIS: The efficacy of different types of techniques was evaluated. Joint mobilization, sleeper stretch, cross body stretch, myofacial release, kinesio and rigid taping showed improvement in pain score and range of motion. Furthermore, self-myo-facial release tends to improve internal rotation; sleeper stretch and crossbody stretch tend to improve internal rotation with 40 percent decline in pain. However kinesio-taping and rigid taping showed good result in improvement of internal rotation Acute results determined that the (Metabolic equivalent) MET group had significantly more horizontal adduction ROM post-treatment compared to the control group (p=0.04). No differences existed between MET and joint mobilizations or joint mobilizations and the control group for horizontal adduction (p>0.16). No significant between group differences existed acutely for internal rotation (p>.28). There were no significant between group differences for either horizontal adduction or internal rotation at the 15- minute posttests (p>0.70). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the study evaluated the efficacy of various techniques in improving pain score and range of motion in individuals with Gleno-humeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD). Joint mobilization, sleeper stretch, cross body stretch, myofascial release, kinesio-taping, and rigid taping all showed improvements in pain score and Range of motion. However, there were no significant between-group differences for either horizontal adduction or internal rotation at the 15-minute post-tests. Overall, these findings suggest that a combination of these techniques may be effective in treating individuals with GIRD.
