Effectiveness of Sleeper’s Stretching on Range of Motion in Overhead Athletes With Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit

Background -This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of sleeper’ stretching exercise on range of motion and proprioception in overhead athletes with glenohumeral internal rotation deficit. Study design-Pre and Post, intervention, using a within subjects and between subjects comparison of a convenience sample. Methods-Glen humeral internal rotation, external rotation and total rotational motion of the dominant and non-dominant shoulders of overhead athletes were measured using a universal goniometer. Determinations were made as to the degree of Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit (GIRD) in the dominant shoulder. A daily (5 days per week), 4-week posterior capsule stretching program was administered. Post-stretching internal rotation, external rotation and total rotational motion measures were again obtained. Results- The result showed significant improvement in IR in both groups i.e. dominant and non-dominant arm, from the descriptive data analysis it has been seen that the effect of sleeper’s stretch was more in group 1 (dominant arm) than the group 2 (non-dominant arm) with a P value of F (1) =144.94, p<0.05 and F (1) =20.196, p<0.05 respectively. No statistically significant improvement in range of motion was found for external rotation, non-dominant arm external rotation, and non-dominant arm total motion. Conclusions-Main findings of this study demonstrated that the sleeper’s stretching protocol was significantly effective for increasing internal rotation and total rotational motion of dominant arm and.