Risk factors associated with subacromial pain in young athletes: A case control study

Subacromial pain (SAP) is a common complaint of young athletes, independently of the sport engaged. The prevalence of SAP in some sports is up to 50%.

The study was aimed to investigate some new factors possibly associated to subacromial pain in young athletes. The factors considered were the grade of tightness of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major, dysfunction of the sternoclavicular joint, and serratus anterior and lower trapezius strength.

This case-control study included 82 young athletes 9-15 years, 41 with the symptoms of SAP and 41 controls. All participants self-reported whether they had subacromial pain. In addition, Hawkins-Kennedy Test was performed to all the participants to evaluate the subacromial pressure. Main outcome measures were the grade of tightness of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major, dysfunction of the sternoclavicular joint, and serratus anterior and lower trapezius strength. The grade of tightness of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major and the dysfunction of the sternoclavicular joint were measured with an inclinometer. Serratus anterior and lower trapezius strength were measured by a handheld dynamometer with external belt-fixation. The data were analyzed using t-test for independent samples, Mann-Whitney U test, contingency coefficients and a stepwise binary logistic regression.

Significant statistical difference was observed in the grade of tightness of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major and in the variable representing the physiological functioning of the sternoclavicular joint, between the cases and the controls. There was no significant difference in serratus anterior and lower trapezius strength between the cases and the controls. Logistic regression analysis showed that the variable representing the physiological functioning of the sternoclavicular joint and the grade of shortening of the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major were good predictors for presence of SAP.

A strong association was determined between subacromial pain in young athletes, clavicular portion of pectoralis major tightness and the dysfunction of the sternoclavicular joint.