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Relationship between swimming performance and shoulder muscle strength in elite Chinese water polo players

BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation volume 17, Article number: 47 (2025) Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The relationship between swimming performance and shoulder muscle strength at different swimming distances is unclear. To provide a theoretical basis for future targeted training as well as better detection and prevention of water polo related injuries.

Objective

To analyze the correlation between swimming speed and shoulder joint muscle strength.

Methods

Eleven members of the Chinese men’s water polo team were included as subjects, and a BIODEX isokinetic muscle strength tester was used to test the isokinetic muscle strength of shoulder flexion, extension, rotation, and abduction-adduction muscles on both sides of the shoulder. And a stopwatch was used to measure swimming speed. Correlation analysis was used to verify the relationship between muscle strength and swimming performance.

Results

A significant difference in the peak moment index of the shoulder muscle groups on both sides of the shoulder at 60°/s centripetal movement. Correlation analysis showed that the 25 m swimming performance was significantly correlated with the peak moment index of the right shoulder extensor group (60°/s centripetal), and with the total work of the left and right shoulder flexor groups and the right shoulder extensor group under the 240°/s centripetal contraction; The 50 m swimming performance was significantly correlated with the index of the right shoulder flexor group and the total work of the left and right extensor groups (240°/s centripetal); The 100 m swimming performance was significantly correlated with the index of the left shoulder flexor group and the total work of the right shoulder extensor group (240°/s centripetal); Swimming performance over 200 m was significantly correlated with the peak moment of the right and left shoulder flexor groups and the right extensor group (240°/s centripetal).

Conclusion

National male water polo players have balanced muscle strength on their left and right sides, which contributes to improved swimming performance. In addition, the muscle strength characteristics of their shoulder flexion-extension and adduction-abduction muscle groups can be used as predictors of swimming performance. Conducting training is important to improve the swimming ability of water polo players as well as to better prevent the incidence of shoulder injuries.

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Introduction

Water polo is a multi-assisted ball game, which combines the characteristics of swimming and handball. Because its rules are like those of association football, it is known as “water soccer” [1]. Water polo originated in the middle of the 19th century in England. The first water polo World Championships were held in 1973, and in 1979 FINA officially hosted the Water Polo World Cup. In the second Olympic Games of the modern era, in 1900, water polo was officially listed as a competition [2].Although China’s men’s water polo team is among the strongest teams in Asia, in 2015 FINA crucially modified the rules of the game. The attack time was changed from 35 to 30-s, and the overall game time was lengthened by 4- min [3], making water polo a higher intensity and more fast paced sport. The rule change improved the spectacle of the game but also required athletes to enhance their swimming ability [4].

Currently in water polo training and competition, freestyle is the most common swimming style used by water polo players due to its low resistance, uniformity, and higher speed. In freestyle swimming, the flexion and extension muscles of the shoulder help the athlete to perform more powerful gripping, pulling and pushing motions, allowing the body to achieve greater propulsive force [5]. It has been reported that the contribution of arm tension during swimming is more than 80%. The shoulder joint also plays an important role in this process. Studies have shown that male water polo players have strong shoulder joint muscle strength in all directions, with particularly strong performance in the flexion and extension directions, and that there is a positive correlation between high levels of isometric shoulder joint muscle strength and good swimming performance [6]. During swimming, the proprioception of the shoulder enables the athlete to accurately perceive the position, direction of movement and strength of the shoulder joint, so as to better control the movement of the arm, maintain the balance of the body and a stable swimming posture, reduce water resistance, and improve swimming efficiency and speed [7]. Therefore, it has been proposed that water polo players have the highest prevalence of injuries to the shoulder joint at 7.14 per 1000 h of athlete exposure (95% CI, 2.19 to 12.09), and the number of injuries accounted for 29.6% (95% CI, 11.4 to 47.9) of all injuries [8].

The isokinetic muscle strength testing instrument can also be used to assess the level of muscle strength of shoulder flexor and extensor muscle groups of water polo goalkeepers, diagnose and analyze the balance of muscle strength of shoulder flexor and extensor muscle groups, provide muscle strength training for shoulder flexor and extensor muscle groups of water polo athletes, and prevent the shoulder flexor and extensor muscle groups from being imbalanced due to the ratio of the muscle strength, which may lead to the occurrence of joints, muscles, and ligament sports injuries [9]. Batalha et al. [10] found that during the early pull-through phase, the shoulder joint exhibits internal rotation, extension, and glenohumeral joint adduction. At the same time, shoulder adduction and internal rotation were greater in swimmers than in the general population, reflecting the importance of shoulder muscle strength in swimming. Matthews et al. [11] analyzed the effect of fatigue-induced decreases in shoulder joint muscle strength on swimming performance, and found that it decreases the stroke length of both arms, as well as the deflection of both arms. The study also observed a significant decrease in external rotation range and joint position sense of the dominant arm in athletes with decreased shoulder joint strength; these results emphasize the important role of the shoulder joint in swimming [12]. However, the above studies were all focused on swimmers, and the relationship between the shoulder joint and swimming performance cannot be generalized to water polo. A study exploring the relationship between the shoulder joint isokinetic muscle strength and physical characteristics of French female water polo players concluded that the total work of the shoulder joint and shoulder joint extensor muscle strength are related to swimming performance over 25 m, with single linear regression R2 values reaching 0.71 [13]. However, that study only considered short swimming distances and so the findings cannot be generalized to the real swimming distances undertaken in water polo. In addition, that study lacked the analysis of shoulder joint frontal plane and horizontal plane muscle strength. Therefore, more research is needed to explore the relationship between shoulder joint three-dimensional muscle strength and swimming performance of water polo players over different swimming distances. The results can help to clarify the focus of training of the shoulder joint muscle by water polo players.

To summarize, the current study used an isokinetic muscle strength tester to measure the muscle strength indexes of water polo athletes’ shoulder joints at different swimming speeds, to explore the relationship between the three-dimensional muscle strength of shoulder joints and swimming performance over various distances. The findings can be used as a reference for strength training of the shoulder joint muscle by China’s national water polo team. In turn, assessments can be made regarding how this strength training improves the swimming ability of China’s water polo athletes and better prevention of the incidence of shoulder injuries.

Materials and methods

Subjects

Eleven members of the Chinese men’s water polo team were selected as subjects for this study. The inclusion criteria were: (1) all subjects were fit athletes except the goalkeeper; (2) all subjects had no history of shoulder injury. The subjects had no injury or pain in the shoulder joint during the isokinetic muscle strength test, and had no major training 1 day before the test. The subjects fully understood the content and procedure of the test and signed the informed consent form before the test.

Test indicators and methods

Before the test, the athletes warmed up their shoulder joints for ten minutes, thus ensuring the accuracy of the test results and preventing injuries. The tests were performed in a seated position; the subjects were familiarized with the test procedure and asked to practice it once. Afterward, the BIODEX (USA) isokinetic strength tester and training system(The BIODEX system-3 Multi-Joint Isokinetic Testing and Rehabilitation System (BIODEX corporation, New York, USA) is one of the most commonly used isokinetic devices. In addition to isokinetic, isometric and isotonic modes of muscle strength assessment, the system is also capable of performing proprioceptive assessments [14].) was used to perform 60°/s and 240°/s centripetal and centrifugal tests on the shoulder flexion-extension, adduction-abduction, and internal-external rotation muscle groups. The indexes of the tests included peak moments and total work(see Table 1). The isokinetic strength tests of the shoulder joints were completed by the same laboratory technician for all subjects. In addition, some studies have shown that the indicators that reflect the swimming ability of excellent men’s water polo players in Guangdong Province are screened by the Telfair method, and there are four indicators of 25 m, 50 m, 100 m and 200 m swimming performance [15], so this paper adopts the stopwatch to test the swimming speed of 11 members of the national men’s water polo team in 25 m, 50 m, 100 m and 200 m swimming speeds. The tests were conducted using a standard swimming pool with a short side of 25 m for round trip freestyle assessments. Each group was tested three times with 3-min intervals.

Table 1 Contents isometric muscle strength testing of the shoulder joint
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Statistical analysis

Independent samples t-tests were used to compare the muscle strength characteristics of the homonymous muscle groups on both sides of the left and right shoulders of the water polo players, and PERSONAL correlation analysis was conducted between swimming performance and the muscle strength characteristics of the shoulder muscle groups(0.1 <| r| < 0.3 small / weak correlation;0.3 <| r| < 0.5 medium / moderate correlation; 0.5 <| r| < 1.0 large / strong correlation [16]). All statistical analyses were undertaken in SPSS 22.0 software, and the threshold to conclude a significant difference was set at p < 0.05; the threshold for a highly significant difference was set at p < 0.01. Descriptive statistics are presented as the mean 士 one standard deviation (X 士 1SD).

Results

Basic information of the subjects

The basic information of the subjects is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Table of basic information about the subjects (mean ± 1SD)
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Inter-rater reliability for the BIODEX measurements

As can be seen from the Table 3, the test results show significance (p = 0.000 < 0.01), which means that there is a certain level of consistency in determining the results among the subjects of the BIODEX measure. Specifically looking at the ICCs of 0.890, it means that there is a high level of consistency in the adjudication results among the raters of the BIODEX measure.

Table 3 Intraclass correlation coefficients
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Results and analysis of peak muscle group moment tests

From the data presented in Table 4; Fig. 1, it can be concluded that when the shoulder joint contracted centripetally, there was no significant difference between the shoulder joint peak moment indexes of the national male water polo players at the test speeds of 60°/s and 240°/s (p > 0.05), except that the right extensor group of the shoulder joint was significantly larger than that of the left (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the left and right-side shoulder joint internal and external rotator groups, or the flexor group and adductor group of the shoulder joint (p > 0.05). During centrifugal contraction, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the left and right lateral flexor-extensor, internal and external rotator, and adductor-abductor muscle groups of the shoulder joint for the peak shoulder joint moment index at all tested velocities.

Table 4 Peak moment test indexes (Nm) for shoulder joint internal and external rotation, flexion, and extension muscle groups and adduction and abduction muscle groups
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Fig. 1
figure 1

Peak moment index of shoulder flexor-extensor muscle group under 60°/s centripetal movement. Note * indicates a significant difference between the dominant and nondominant side of the shoulder joint (p < 0.05)

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Results and analysis of tests of total muscle group work

Based on the data presented in Table 5, it can be concluded that during centrifugal and centripetal contraction, there was no significant difference in the total work of the right and left lateral flexor-extensor, adductor-abductor, and internal and external rotator muscle groups of the shoulder joints at the test speeds of 60°/s and 240°/s (p > 0.05).

Table 5 Total work test indexes of shoulder joint internal and external rotation, flexion and extension muscle groups, and adduction and abduction muscle groups (J)
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Swimming performance test results

The results of the swimming test scores, the average of the three test results, are shown in Table 6.

Table 6 Swimming performance test results (s)
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Correlation analysis of swimming performance with peak shoulder joint moments and total work indexes

Correlation analysis between swimming performance and peak shoulder moment indexes

From the data presented in Table 7, it can be concluded that the 25 m swimming performance of the water polo players was strong correlated with the peak moment index of the right shoulder extensor muscle group during centripetal movement at the test speed of 60°/s (r = 0.657, p = 0.026).

Table 7 Results of correlation analysis between peak 60°/s centripetal motion moment of the shoulder joint and swimming performance
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From the data presented in Table 8, it can be concluded that the 200 m swimming performance of the water polo players was strong correlated with the peak moment of the left shoulder flexor muscle group at the test speed of 240°/s centripetal motion (r = 0.662, p = 0.033), and with the right shoulder flexor muscle group at the test speed of 60°/s centripetal motion (r = 0.644, p = 0.037). Swimming performance was also strong correlated with the peak moment of the left shoulder extensor group at 60°/s test speed centripetal motion (r = 0.783, p = 0.007). As can be seen from Tables 9 and 10, the peak moment under eccentric motion is not related to swimming performance.

Table 8 Results of correlation analysis between the peak moment of 240°/s centripetal motion of the shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Table 9 Results of correlation analysis between the peak moment of 60°/s centrifugal motion of the shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Table 10 Results of correlation analysis between the peak moment of 240°/s centrifugal motion of the shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Correlation analysis between swimming performance and total shoulder joint function indexes

From the data presented in Table 11, it can be concluded that the 100 m swimming performance of the polo players was strong correlated with the total work index of the left shoulder flexor muscle group at 60°/s test speed centripetal motion (r = 0.774, p = 0.003), and with the total work index of the right shoulder adductors muscle group at 60°/s test speed centripetal (r = 0.644, p = 0.037).

Table 11 Results of correlation analysis between total work index of 60°/s centripetal movement of shoulder joint and swimming performance
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From the data presented in Table 12, it can be concluded that the 25 m swimming performance was strong correlated with the total work index of the left shoulder flexor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.633, p = 0.028), with the total work index of the right shoulder flexor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.638, p = 0.024), and with the indicator of total work of the right shoulder extensor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.664, p = 0.032).

The 50 m swimming performance was strong correlated with the total work index of the right shoulder flexor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.609, p = 0.026), with the right shoulder extensor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.644, p = 0.022), and with the total work index of the left shoulder extensor group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.685, p = 0.034).

The 100 m swimming performance was strong correlated with the total work index of the right shoulder extensor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.662, p = 0.036), and with the total work index of the right shoulder adductor muscle group at 240°/s test speed for centripetal movement (r = 0.655, p = 0.045).

As can be seen from Tables 13 and 14, the total work index under eccentric exercise is not related to swimming performance.

Table 12 Results of correlation analysis between total work index of 240°/s centripetal movement of shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Table 13 Results of correlation analysis between total work indexes of 60°/s centrifugal movement of shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Table 14 Results of correlation analysis between total work indexes of 240°/s centrifugal movement of shoulder joint and swimming performance
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Discussion

4.1 Characterization of shoulder flexion, extension, internal and external rotation, and adduction and abduction on both sides of the shoulder joint.

In water polo, the shoulder musculature plays an important role the shoulder joint articulates technical movements through forces transmitted by other joints and mobilizes the major muscle groups to enhance swimming speed [17]. The shoulder joint is the most important force transferring link for water polo players during swimming, and its stability and use need to be optimized to maximize upper limb strength. Relevant studies have shown [18] that focusing on improving the main propulsion ability of water polo players temporarily improves performance to some extent, but ultimately this training method causes the power of other muscle groups to decline, and the muscle strength of shoulder joints on both sides is not balanced, which can lead to decline in sports performance. It has been pointed out that the proportion of muscle strength of homonymous muscle groups on both sides of the joints should be balanced, otherwise, the weak side of the joint muscle groups are prone to sports injuries in sports [19]. At present, it is generally recognized that the difference in muscle strength of homonymous muscle groups on both sides of the joints should be kept within 10%, and the risk of injury to the weak joint muscle group is higher when it exceeds 20% [20].Therefore, in training, not only should the relevant muscle groups be trained, but consideration should also be given to their balanced development. Therefore, in the experiments reported herein, first the isokinetic muscle strength of shoulder joints on both sides of water polo players was compared to analyze whether there was an imbalance of muscle strength on both sides of the shoulder. The results indicate that the peak moment of the right extensor muscle was significantly greater than that of the left side only during the slow speed test, and the total work of the right extensor and internal rotator muscles was significantly greater than that of the left side. Among the 72 indexes of the test results, only 3 indexes returned significant differences, so it can be concluded that the muscle strength of shoulder flexor muscle groups, adductor magnus muscle groups, and internal and external rotation muscle groups of both sides of Chinese water polo players are balanced. The reason for this result is related to the program characteristics of water polo. The competition environment of water polo is different from other shoulder dominant programs. When the athletes are in the water, they not only use the joints of the lower limbs for treading water, but also need to paddle on their nondominant side in the water to change direction, turn around, and maintain body balance. While most of the shoulder joint dominant programs use the ground as the support for the dominant shoulder joint movement, such as badminton, shot put, and fencing, some studies have shown that in various muscle groups there is a difference between the dominant side and the nondominant side of the shoulder joint of male and female fencers [21]. In a study of shot put athletes, Yuan Ting gang et al. [22] found that there is an imbalance in the muscle strength of the homonymous muscle groups on both sides of the shoulder. This is inconsistent with the results of the present study, which may be due to differences in program characteristics, and possible differences in shoulder joint force characteristics and force sequences between land and aquatic programs. Xu Xin xia [23] conducted an independent samples t-test on both sides of the homonymous muscle groups in his study, and found that the right shoulder extensor muscle group was significantly larger than the left shoulder extensor muscle group, indicating that there was an imbalance in muscle strength between the dominant side and the nondominant side of the extensor muscle groups of the shoulder joint. The results of other studies on lateralization in water polo players further confirm this speculation. Shang Cellin and Cao Feng rui’s team [9] mentioned that the muscle strength of shoulder flexion and extension, adduction and abduction, and internal and external rotation muscle groups in male water polo players did not indicate differences between the dominant and nondominant side. The differences between these studies and the results of this paper may be due to the small number of subjects in this paper or the fact that the subjects were all fit athletes and there were no differences in personal qualities perse. Li Tao [24]concluded that water polo players from a certain province have a balanced development of strength between the left and right flexor muscle groups of the shoulder joint. Linde [25]also concluded that in water polo players there was no significant difference in the centripetal movement of the internal and external rotator muscles on the dominant side of the shoulder joint compared with the nondominant side, which is consistent with the results of the present study. This is also related to the unique attributes of the sport of water polo. During the game, when the offense and defense transition, water polo players often take freestyle fast swimming to take advantage of the offensive position [26]. The shoulder joints of the dominant and non-dominant sides are symmetrical when swimming [27]. However, when passing and receiving the ball or shooting at goal, water polo players do not have symmetrical force generation between the muscles around the shoulder joint on the dominant side and the non-dominant side. When shooting a goal, the shoulder joint of the dominant side tends to extend, rotate and retract, while the shoulder joint of the nondominant side performs resistive flexion and extension underwater [28]. After a long period of competitions and trainings, water polo players tend to show an imbalance of the muscle strength of the same muscle group of the shoulder joints on both sides. Therefore, national male water polo players should strengthen the strength training for the weak shoulder muscles to prevent the occurrence of joint and muscle ligament injuries due to the imbalance of the muscle strength of the homonymous muscle groups on both sides of the shoulder joint [29].

Correlation analysis between isometric muscle strength test index and swimming speed

Water polo is an intermittent and high-intensity sport, with the aim being to score more points than the opposing team. To be successful at their sport, water polo players need to integrate their technical, tactical, and physical abilities. Currently, a fast-swimming speed is a basic requirement for good water polo players [30], and many studies have concluded that swimming speed is a key factor in winning matches [31]. After the introduction of the new rules to water polo [32], overall match time increased by 4-min while the time of each round shortened by 10-s, making the pace of the game significantly faster. These changes in the game environment are demanding on the physical fitness and swimming speed of water polo athletes – over the course of a game of water polo a player on average undertakes 54 high-intensity swims [33]. The propulsive force of water polo players during swimming mainly relies on the contraction of various joint muscle groups throughout the body [34]. The shoulder muscles play a key role in providing mobility and stability for the body, and during swimming the shoulder joints undergo flexion/extension, adduction/abduction, and internal/external rotations [35]. The results of the present study showed that there is a relationship between swimming speed and the peak moments and total work of shoulder flexion/extension and adduction/abduction muscles. Moreover, they indicated that the total work of shoulder flexion/extension on both sides of the shoulder joints is an independent predictor of swimming performance over 25 and 50 m, while the peak moments of shoulder flexion/extension on both sides were the main predictors of swimming performance over 200 m of swimming. Moment was the main predictor of 200 m performance, a finding consistent with previous studies [36]. A study documented the test results of three groups of experimental athletes in terms of closed kinetic chain upper extremity stability, shoulder joint flexibility, shoulder joint isometric muscle strength, and sport performance correlation, which showed that the improvement of shoulder joint isometric muscle strength had a significant impact on swimming performance, and in particular, shoulder joint stability training had a positive effect on the improvement of swimming performance [37]. Complementing the results of the present study, this further emphasizes the importance of shoulder joint stability and muscle strength on swimming performance [38]. The shoulder joint mainly relies on the contraction of the teres minor, latissimus dorsi, triceps brachii, posterior deltoid, and infraspinatus muscles to complete the shoulder joint extension [39]. These muscles are the primary actuators of the shoulder joint during paddling, and they are the main source of direct propulsion for athletes during swimming. Therefore, the first thing that water polo players should consider in their normal training is the maximal strength capacity of the above primary kinetic muscle groups and their ability to do work quickly [40]. In addition, the flexor muscles, as the antagonistic muscles of shoulder extension, also play a role in promoting the shoulder extensors by increasing their muscle strength. Therefore, the shoulder flexors such as the rostro-humeral, anterior deltoid, long head of the biceps, and clavicle of the pectoralis major should also be targeted in strength training [41]. One study also found that swimming ability was significantly correlated with shoulder flexor-extensor strength and its work capacity, and 50-m fast swimming ability was significantly correlated with left shoulder flexor-extensor strength and its work capacity [42]. The results of the two studies were highly consistent, and both studies emphasized the importance of shoulder flexor-extensor strength on swimming performance. There is a positive correlation between high levels of isometric shoulder strength and good swimming performance. In particular, the strength of the flexor and extensor muscle groups of the shoulder joint and their work capacity had a significant effect on the 400-meter speed endurance swimming ability and the 50-meter fast swimming ability [43]. This suggests that shoulder joint strength and endurance are the key factors affecting swimming speed and endurance in water polo.

In the present study, 200 m swimming performance showed a significant correlation with the peak moment of shoulder joint adductors, fast peak moment of flexors on both sides, and the fast peak moment of extensors on the left shoulder. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the strength of the shoulder flexor and extensor muscle groups on both sides of the shoulder and the adductor muscle group were the main factors affecting 200 m swimming performance. According to the principle of sports biomechanics [44], under the condition of fixed arm length, improving the strength of shoulder extensor muscles on both sides can enhance the propulsion force of the swimming stroke, thus improving swimming performance. Similarly, increasing the strength of the shoulder flexor muscle groups on both sides can accelerate stroke frequency and reduce muscle fatigue [45], thus improving speed endurance. In a survey of injuries in Chinese female water polo players at the masters level, it was found that injuries in Chinese masters athletes were mainly concentrated in the shoulder joint, knee joint and lumbar spine/lower back, with shoulder joint injuries accounting for as much as 55% of the total number of injuries. Therefore, the shoulder injury population can be used as research subjects in subsequent studies to further understand the injury mechanisms and principles [46]. ScholyhauR et al. [47]verified this theory by calculating the lift force, resistance force, and the resulting vector at the shoulder. Water polo mainly relies on short-distance high-speed sprints, and unlike competitive swimming, in pursuit, passing, and shooting, to get a good sight it is necessary to use the technique of lifting speed. The improvement of this technique requires the shoulder joint to provide a large amount of power. The present study therefore suggests that water polo players should focus on strengthening the flexion, extension, and adduction muscles of both sides of the shoulder joints. Preventive training for water polo injuries must be comprehensive, each part of the preventive training is done, need to be unified into the water movement patterns, athletes in the water technical coordination exercises to make their own in the water force pattern more reasonable, in order to maximize the prevention of sports injuries.

Limitations of the study

Swimming performance of water polo players is affected by many factors [48]. This study only considered performance from the perspective of shoulder joint muscle strength. The muscle strength of other joints, and athletes’ physical fitness and swimming techniques, have an influence on swimming performance—more research in these areas is required. The sample size of this study (n = 11) was small, thus limiting the generalizability of the findings, and more sample sizes should be included in subsequent studies, divided into different genders, different sport levels, different years of sport, or different positions to make the findings more generalizable and replicable.

Conclusions

National male water polo players have balanced muscle strength on the left and right sides of their bodies, which helps to improve their swimming performance. The muscle strength characteristics of their shoulder flexor-extensor and adductor groups can be used as predictors of swimming performance over distances of 25, 50, 100, and 200 m. It is suggested that the training of the maximal strength, rapid strength and, slow work capacity of shoulder flexion, extension, and abduction muscles on both sides is important to improve the swimming ability of water polo players.

Given the predictive value of shoulder flexion and extension, and adduction and abduction muscle groups for swimming performance in water polo players, coaches should pay attention to the daily strength training of these two muscle groups so as to improve the swimming speed of their athletes and in turn enhance the performance of the Chinese national men’s water polo team.

Coaches should consider adding isometric muscle strength testing to the selection criteria of water polo players, specifically testing the symmetry of the athlete’s bilateral shoulder joint muscle strength, as well as that of the shoulder flexion and extension, and adduction and abduction muscle groups, alongside other indicators.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to confidentiality reasons. Data can be made available upon reasonable request from Sikuan Ren (rsk5555@163.com).

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Acknowledgements

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Funding

Shanxi Provincial Education Department, Grant Number2024W159. Shanxi Provincial Science and Technology Department, Grant Number 201801D121014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education, Xinzhou Normal University, XinZhou ShanXi, 034000, China

    Sikuan Ren & Wenyan Li

  2. School of Physical Education & Health Care, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Zeyi Zhang

  3. College of Physical Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan ShanXi, 030024, China

    Fengrui Cao

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Contributions

Conception: Sikuan Ren. Performance of work: Wenyan Li. Interpretation or analysis of data: Zeyi Zhang. Preparation of the manuscript: Sikuan Ren. Revision for important intellectual content: Sikuan Ren. Supervision: Fengrui Cao.

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Correspondence to Sikuan Ren.

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Ren, S., Li, W., Zhang, Z. et al. Relationship between swimming performance and shoulder muscle strength in elite Chinese water polo players. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil 17, 47 (2025). https://doiorg.publicaciones.saludcastillayleon.es/10.1186/s13102-025-01104-7

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BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation

ISSN: 2052-1847

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