The Immediate Effects of Sleeper Stretch Versus Cross-body Stretch on Shoulder Range of Motion in Volleyball Players

Volleyball is a complex discipline with high technical, tactical and athletic demands on the players, because of which there is a need for the players to specialize early in certain tasks in the game, such as spiking or setting. According to studies, shoulder injuries accounts for 8–20% of all volleyball injuries. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of sleeper stretch v/s cross-body stretch on dominant shoulder IR and HA.

1. To determine the effect of sleeper stretch on dominant shoulder internal rotation and horizontal adduction. 2. To determine the effect of cross-body stretch on dominant shoulder IR and HA.

Subjects who fulfill the inclusion criteria were assigned into 2 groups. Group A (n=30) performed sleeper stretch. Group B (n=30) performed cross-body stretch. The stretch was repeated for 3times, held for 30sec with a rest period of 30sec between each stretch for both the groups. Outcome measures included evaluation of shoulder IR and HA ROM using a full-circle goniometer.

Paired t-test was done to compare data within groups. The t-value for paired t-test for IR in group A was 10.5171, p-value being <0.001; t-value for HA in group A was 11.1946, p-value being <0.001 both of which were highly significant. The t-value for paired t-test for IR in group B was 7.46, p-value being <0.00; t-value for HA in group B was 7.21, p-value being <0.001, both were highly significant. Unpaired t-test to compare data between groups had a t-value for IR 5.43, p-value being <0.001 which was highly significant; while that for HA was 2.28, p-value being 0.0262 which was significant.

The study showed that sleeper-stretch is more effective than cross-body stretch in improving shoulder IR and HA ROM.