EXERCISE PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALTH   

Medicina dello Sport 2019 March;72(1):139-51

DOI: 10.23736/S0025-7826.18.03326-4

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Reliability of shoulder muscle endurance tested using elastic bands

Jéssica K. MICHELETTI ^{1, 2} ✉, Lars L. ANDERSEN ^{2, 3}, Aryane F. MACHADO ¹, Jaqueline S. LOPES ⁴, Larissa R. SOUTO ¹, Carlos M. PASTRE ¹

¹ Department of Physiotherapy, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil; ² National Research Center for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark; ³ Sport Sciences, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; ⁴ Department of Physiotherapy, United Colleges of the Araguaia Valley (UNIVAR), Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Elastic bands are commonly used as resistance training device in clinical settings and at workplaces due to its easy handling, low cost and safety. Studies have supported this tool as evaluation of muscular strength; however, no standardized methods for testing localized muscular endurance exist. The purpose is to evaluate reliability of performance during a newly developed shoulder abduction endurance test with elastic bands.
METHODS: A total of 28 healthy adults participated in 4 sessions: Orientation, Familiarization, Test, and Retest. For muscle endurance testing participant performed repeated shoulder abductions to 90º until fatigue at two levels of elastic bands above 50% of the 1RM (average of 76.1±3.5% from 1RM). The reliability analyses were performed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with 95% confidence interval and typical measurement error (TME), present also in coefficient of variation (CV%) for total time to fatigue, repetition, and total work.
RESULTS: For test and retest, respectively, time to fatigue was 65.9±13.6 and 66.0±15.0 seconds (P=0.96), repetition 22.1±4.5 and 22.2±5.3 (P=0.86). The variables showed satisfactory reliability (time: ICC=0.83 [95% CI=0.67; 0.92]; repetition: ICC=0.78 [95% CI=0.57; 0.89]; total work: ICC=0.89 [95% CI=0.63; 0.97]).
CONCLUSIONS: The test for shoulder muscle endurance using elastic resistance bands has good reliability, and can therefore be recommended in settings where muscle endurance is of importance.

KEY WORDS: Reproducibility of results - Resistance training - Fatigue