The Effect of Shoulder Joint Isokinetic Muscle Strength, Endurance and Proprioception on Swimming, Agility and Sprint Performance in Water Polo Players.

Objectives: Water Polo (WP) is a physiologically and physically demanding sport that involves frequent directional changes during swimming.

Methods: This study, shoulder proprioception, muscle strength, and endurance were evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer in 28 male Sports Club WP athletes competing in the WP 1st league. In addition, swimming, agility, and speed performance tests were performed.

Results: There was a moderate negative correlation between shoulder joint muscle strength and the shuttle swimming test, WP agility test, and 20-m maximum speed swimming test (Peak Torque 60° respectively r:-0.443, p:0.018, r:-0.490, p:0.008, r=-0.581, p:0.001). In the multiple regression analysis performed in our study, ANOVA test results in Models 4, 5, and 6 showed that there was a significant relationship between shoulder joint muscle strength and shuttle swimming test and 20-m maximum speed swimming test (respectively, F:2.912, p:0.044, F:5.004, p:0.005).

Conclusions: Our study determined that shoulder joint proprioception was not associated with swimming, agility and speed performance, shoulder joint isokinetic muscle strength affected swimming and speed performance but not agility, and shoulder joint endurance was associated with swimming, agility and speed performance in WP players.