Evaluation of performance analysis of shoulder muscle groups in overhead long and short ball throws in professinal football players.

Purpose: Football is a sport played by eleven players from two teams. When the ball goes out from the long side of the rectangular field, the game is restarted using a throw-in. Effective long and short distance shooting abilities require the ability of the upper extremity muscles as well as the wrist compatible with shooting to generate speed and strength. Different shooting techniques can alter electromyographic activity and cause fatigue, so collecting data on fatigue levels of muscle groups can provide significant benefits. Method: Descriptive statistics were used to summarize demographic characteristics of professional football players, including age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), and means and standard deviations (SD) for years of professional playing. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe the distribution of the dominant side among players. During short and long throw-in measurements, muscle groups around the shoulder were simultaneously evaluated non-invasively with a superficial-electromyography (s-EMG (Neurocess)) device. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to test the normality of the data. Paired samples t-tests were used to compare maximum electrical activity (Vmax) values of shoulder muscle groups during short and long touch pulses. The analysis aimed to determine whether there were significant differences in Vmax values between the two shot types for each muscle group. For all tests, a p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Paired sample t-test results revealed significant differences in the Vmax values of all shoulder muscle groups between short and long contact shooting characteristics of professional football players, including means and standard deviations (SD) for age, weight, height, and body mass index. The analysis aimed to determine whether there were significant differences in Vmax values between the two shot types for each muscle group. For all tests, a p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 35 professional football players aged between 21 and 35, with an average age of 27.8 (SD= 3.6) were included in the study. The average weight of the players was 67.0 kg (SD = 4.1), with a range of 60 to 75 kg. The average height was 173.7 cm (SD = 5.8), ranging from 160 to 185 cm. The mean BMI was 22.2 kg/m² (SD = 1.5) and ranged from 20 to 26 kg/m². 27 (77.1%) of the participants were right dominant and 8 (22.9%) were left dominant. The average professional playing time was 9.2 years (SD=3.6), ranging from 2 to 16 years. A summary of the patients' demographic characteristics is presented in Table 1. The mean short touch throw was 7.4±1.2 m (range, 4.8-9.6), the mean long touch throw was 16.2±2.4m (range, 11.8-22.2). Paired samples t-test results revealed significant differences in Vmax values of all shoulder muscle groups between short and long touch shots. Conclusions: This study aims to develop training programs and rehabilitation protocols, further improve overall performance and reduce the risk of muscle-related injuries, as the throwing movement has different muscle activation patterns than overhead throws in other sports. Keywords: surface emg, shoulder muscle, ball throws