International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

Abstract

Effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation with Voluntary Contraction and Taping on Joint Position Sense in Asymptomatic Scapular Dyskinesic Patients

Sood Ishita, Sen Siddhartha and Arfath Umer

Background: Shoulder complex impairments are related to activities and occupations that require prolonged working hours or repetitive overhead activities and show a high prevalence and are rated next to low back pain. The scapular musculature is often subjected to neglect when dealing with evaluation and treatment of shoulder injuries. However, evidence on scapular dyskinesia and serratus anterior is scarce. This study evaluates the effectiveness of two different treatment intervention on neuromuscular control (Joint position sense) in asymptomatic scapular dyskinesis patients. We hypothesized that electrical muscle stimulation with voluntary contraction is a better intervention as compared to taping to correct joint position sense. Methodology: The study was conducted at research laboratory of Sardar Bhagwan Singh Post Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences And Research. Twenty female subjects with mean age 22.6 ± 0.96 with a bilateral scapular difference of 1.5 cm and no history of surgery at shoulder or back surgery were included in the study. The subjects were measured for lateral scapular slide test (LSST) at 0°, 45°,90° and joint position sense (JPS) using vernier caliper and digital inclinometer respectively. Results: Mann Whitney’s test for between group analysis shows that both taping and EMS with voluntary contraction are significant at 0° and 90° of LSST and non-significant at 45°and JPS. Conclusion: The study demonstrated increase in joint position sense and scapular dyskinesis after electrical muscle stimulation with voluntary contraction and clinically our study leads to enhancement of proprioception by increasing JPS.