Effect of Six-week Corrective Exercises on Shoulder Stability in CrossFit Athletes With Scapular Dysfunction

Purpose: Shoulder injuries are common in CrossFit athletes, with scapular dysfunction playing a key role.Given the scapula's key role in force transmission and shoulder stability, this study aimed to investigate the effect of a corrective exercise program on improving shoulder stability in CrossFit athletes. Methods:This quasi-experimental study initially enrolled 26 male CrossFit athletes aged 25-30 years recruited via purposive sampling from local clubs and selected based on predefined eligibility criteria.An a priori power analysis (G * Power software, version 3.1; effect size=0.54, α=0.05, power=0.80)indicated a minimum of 24 participants; to accommodate approximately 10% attrition, 26 were enrolled and equally allocated to intervention and control groups (13/13).Scapular stability was assessed with the Davis Test pre-and post-intervention.Data normality was examined with the Shapiro-Wilk test; within-group changes were analyzed using paired t-tests, and between-group effects with analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) (adjusting for pretest values).Two control participants were lost to follow-up; analyses were completed on 24 athletes.All analyses were performed using SPSS software, version 26 (α=0.05). Results:The intervention group showed significant improvements in scapular stability, with Davis test record increasing by 8.4% and power output increasing by 8.4% (P<0.01), while the control group showed no significant changes (P>0.05).Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) confirmed significant between-group differences in both Davis Test record (adjusted Mean±SD: 13.42±1.20vs 12.67±1.65;partial η²=0.205) and power output (adjusted Mean±SD: 1138.23±98.67vs 1050.76±134.55;partial η²=0.241;P<0.05), demonstrating the effectiveness of the corrective exercise program. Conclusion:The present study demonstrated that the selected corrective exercises can improve scapular function and enhance shoulder stability.This improvement contributes to increased shoulder strength and power, ultimately contributing to the improvment of movement dysfunctions.