Background & Aims: Previous studies showed that alteration in scapular kinematic may cause changes in clavicle and shoulder and finally lead to disorders in the upper quarter. To expand treatment options for patients with forwarding head and shoulder posture, this study investigated the effects of scapular stabilization and conscious control training on clavicle selected kinematic variables in
Materials & Methods: in this semi-experimental study, forty-four female subjects with scapula dyskinesis (inferior angle & medial border pattern) were randomly assigned to 3 groups: stabilization (n=15), conscious control (n=15) and control (n=14). All the subjects were tested (i.e., a pre-test and a post-test) for investigating the degree of disorder in the clavicular kinematic (using motion analysis system). Then, the subjects in scapular stabilization and conscious control were trained three days a week for six weeks (45 minutes for each session). The paired
t-test and analysis of covariance were used for statistical analysis.
Result: There were significant within-group changes in angle of clavicle (90 degrees) in the conscious group (
p=0.028) but no significant differences were observed in stabilization and control groups. There were significant differences between conscious and stabilization study groups, but only conscious group demonstrated significant differences when compared to the control and stabilization groups. No significant changes were observed for other degrees (
p>0.05).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study supports the effectiveness of conscious exercise-therapy in improving clavicular kinematic. Based on the data average changes in pre-test and post-test of both groups, it can be claimed that conscious control and stabilization protocol training improves the orientation and motion of the clavicle in patients with scapular dyskinesis. The use of scapular conscious control and stabilization training along with other exercise-therapy protocols of shoulder complex is suggested for improving scapular and clavicular kinematic in patients with scapular dyskinesis.