Recovery of joint position sense in the shoulder after muscle fatigue

Context: Fatigue of the shoulder rotator muscles may negatively affect joint position sense (JPS) and ultimately lead to injury. Objective: Recovery of shoulder JPS after muscle fatigue. Design: A repeated-measures study. Setting: Musculoskeletal research laboratory. Patients: Thirteen subjects participated in joint position error tests and isokinetic concentric strength assessment in shoulder rotation, before and after rotator muscle fatigue. Interventions: Local muscle fatigue was induced using isokinetic concentric contractions of the shoulder rotator muscles. Main Outcome Measurements: Shoulder rotator strength and JPS error signals were measured before fatigue, immediately after fatigue, and every ten minutes thereafter for one hour. Results: Before shoulder rotation muscle fatigue, the accuracy of shoulder JPS was 2.79 +/- 1.67 degrees. After muscle fatigue, the accuracy decreased to 6.39 +/- 2.90 degrees. Shoulder JPS was influenced up to 40 minutes after muscle fatigue, but shoulder strength was only affected for 10 minutes after muscle fatigue. Conclusions: Proprioceptive recovery was slower than strength following fatigue of the shoulder rotators.