(8) DOES SELF-MYOFASCIAL RELEASE IMPROVE TORQUE AND WORK ON INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SHOULDER ROTATION IN BOWLERS?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if self-myofascial release (SMR) had acute improvements for torque and work with internal and external shoulder rotation. Methods: 15 (10 females/5 males) college and high school athletes (age = 19.8 ± 1.9 yrs; height = 170.69 ± 12.2 cm.; body mass = 65.41 ± 13.7 kg) participated in this study. This was a one group pre/post-test design to determine torque and work during internal and external shoulder rotation on their dominant side using an isokinetic dynamometer (ISKD) (Biodex Medical System, Shirley, NY, USA) set at 120 degrees/second. Starting in a standing position, each subject was coached to perform 6 maximal repetitions, rest for 10 seconds, and perform 1 final maximal effort repetition. A pocket knuckle SMR device was placed on the teres minor for 2 minutes, using a 60 BPM cadence while maintaining a pressure Pain Rating Scale of 7/10. Afterwards, each subject performed the exact same assessment on the ISKD to determine if any differences existed between pre and posttest scores. A one-tailed dependent t-test was performed on SPSS (vers. 29). Cohen’s d effect sizes determined the strength of the relationship between pre- and post-test values. Results: Descriptive statistics for all dependent variables are listed in Table 1. Statistical significance (p < 0.05) was observed for internal torque (p = 0.011), external torque (p = 0.047) as well as internal rotator work (p = 0.004) and external rotator work (p = 0.007). A large effect size was observed for internal rotator work (d = -0.82) and external rotator work (d = -0.76) while negative medium effect sizes were observed for internal rotator (d = -0.66) and external rotator torque (d = -0.46). Conclusions: Internal and external rotation torque as well as internal and external rotation work scores were significant from pre- to post-test after completing a 2-minute SMR intervention targeting the Teres Minor on the dominant side of college and high school bowlers. Practical Applications: Competitive bowlers could benefit from SMR during match play to improve rotational force production if consistent bowling biomechanics and lane conditions are conducive towards these acute improvements. Acknowledgements: NONE