부산대학교 도서관

Background and Purpose: Rounded shoulder posture (RSP) may be associated with the poor scapular control, as the scapula dyskinesia, and consequently result in the shoulder disorder. Many therapeutic exercises, such as scapular stabilization exercises (STE), were developed to normalize the scapular dyskinesia. However, patients with dyskinesia usually require bio-feedback from physical therapist or other instruments to aware their shoulder performance during STE. Therefore, to enhance the efficiency of intervention, we tried to design a simple bio-feedback protocol with a laser pointer for STE. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of laser-guide and mirror-guide during STE on shoulder kinematics and muscle activities. Methods: Twelve males (mean age: 20.83 ± 1.34 years old) with RSP were recruited and divided into two groups for randomizing the sequence of bio-feedback conditions, including laser-guide, mirror-guide and no visual feedback, to prevent the learning effect. Subjects were asked to perform scaption while preventing the scapula from shrugging by imagination without feedback, looking the posture on the mirror, and checking the laser point within the target, respectively. The surface electromyography (EMG) was used to record the scapular muscle activities and the electromagnetic tracking system was used to measure the kinematics of the scapulohumeral rhythm during shoulder scaption. Results: The results showed that subjects have significant decreases on scapular superior translations and on the muscle activity of upper trapezius with laser pointer with regarding to mirror-guide and without visual feedback during STE. Conclusion: The subjects can correct their RSP during STE with the laser-guide feedback more efficiently as compared with the mirror-guide and no visual feedback. Clinical Relevance: The simple protocol with laser-guide should be broadly applied and further investigated to other STE for the home-program of STE to patients with scapula dyskinesia.