Focusing the Shoulder or Considering the Whole-Body in Volleyball Physiotherapy (FocusVolley)

August 11, 2025 updated by: Alex Buoite Stella, University of Trieste

Focusing the Shoulder or Considering the Whole-Body? A Randomized Controlled Trial on Physiotherapy Protocols for the Painful Shoulder in Volleyball Players

Shoulder pain can be common in overhead sports, and in particular, in volleyball. Different physiotherapy protocols can be adopted depending on the suspected pathophysiological mechanisms. Despite most of the protocols rely only on the shoulder district, some research suggests that treating the whole-body might produce better results as it could influence kinematic chains and correct muscle imbalances. The aim of this study will be to compare the effects of two physiotherapy protocols (shoulder focus or whole body) compared to only education without physiotherapy.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
      • Trieste, Italy, 34100
        • Recruiting
        • University of Trieste - Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology Lab
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • practicing volleyball for at least 5 years with a training volume of minimum 5 h/wk

Exclusion Criteria:

  • history of previous surgical intervention or fractures on the shoulder or spine

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Healthy controls
A convenience sample of healthy volleyball players for cross-sectional comparison
Experimental: Total body physiotherapy group
Physiotherapy intervention consisting in whole body exercise and treatment
Other: Total body physiotherapy
This intervention consists in 5 weeks of 2 x week 60 min sessions of physiotherapy consisting in active exercise performed in upper limb, trunk, and lower limb muscles, in a whole-body approach.
Active Comparator: Focus shoulder group
Physiotherapy intervention consisting in shoulder exercise and treatment
Other: Focus shoulder physiotherapy
This intervention consists in 5 weeks of 2 x week 60 min sessions of physiotherapy consisting in active exercise performed only in the shoulder district, focusing on the trunk-arm muscles.
Other: No physiotherapy group
No physiotherapy, only education
Other: Education
Single education session providing information about posture hygiene and proper warm-up

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Isometric strength with handheld dynamometer (Newtons)
Time Frame: At enrollment and at the end of treatment at 5 weeks
Isometric strength during shoulder flexion, extension, external and internal rotation, bilaterally
At enrollment and at the end of treatment at 5 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Lateral symmetry (%)
Time Frame: At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks
Lateral symmetry will be assessed as percentage between the two upper limbs for the investigated muscles (pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, middle trepezius, lower trapezius, anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid) using the tensiomyography system
At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks
Time of contraction (ms)
Time Frame: At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks
Time of contraction (ms), i.e. the time requiring the muscle to reach the peak of muscle displacement, will be assessed as percentage between the two upper limbs for the investigated muscles (pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, middle trepezius, lower trapezius, anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid) using the tensiomyography system
At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks
Muscle belly displacement (mm)
Time Frame: At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks
Muscle belly displacement (mm), i.e. the amplitude of muscle displacement, will be assessed as percentage between the two upper limbs for the investigated muscles (pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, middle trepezius, lower trapezius, anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid) using the tensiomyography system
At enrollement and at the end of treatment after 5 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Trieste

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 20, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 30, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 8, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

July 18, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 11, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • DSM_Fisio_SpallaPallavolo25

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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