Shoulder kinematics and kinetics of team handball throwing: A scoping review

In recent years a number of studies have investigated shoulder biomechanics in handball throwing. The purpose of this scoping review is to summarize the current handball research in terms of shoulder joint kinematics and kinetics and identify gaps in the current research. Nineteen articles relevant to this topic were identified and included. The handball throw is characterized by large external shoulder rotation followed by a rapid internal rotation with minor changes in shoulder flexion and abduction. Generally timing sequence, joint angles and joint velocities were not affected by different conditions such as throwing type, arm position, ball weight and gender. However, large differences in shoulder angles and angular velocities were found between studies, which most likely are explained by methodological differences. Unfortunately, the information provided in the articles did not make it possible to transform measurements from one study to another and thereby eliminate the methodological differences. Only one study reported shoulder kinetics and found that kinetics were not affected by fatigue. This scoping review highlights the need for better descriptions of the methods used to obtain shoulder kinematics and for studies investigating shoulder kinetics in handball throwing.