People who play tennis don't use the shoulder blade muscles as much as other athletes when doing a specific exercise where they lie face down and pull their shoulder blades together, especially when their arms are raised high.

Scientific Claim

Tennis players exhibit significantly lower activation of the middle and lower trapezius muscles during prone bilateral scapular retraction at 90° of shoulder abduction compared to non-tennis athletes, with effect sizes exceeding 1.4, suggesting sport-specific neuromuscular adaptations may reduce scapular stabilizer engagement during isolated exercises.

Original Statement

“Tennis players showed significantly lower trapezius activation, especially during prone retraction at 90°. N–TPs exhibited higher activation in MT and LT in both the dominant (D) and non-dominant side (ND) at 90° (415 µV vs. 255 µV for D, 438 µV vs. 253 µV for ND on MT; and 449 µV vs. 245 µV for D and 450 µV vs. 237 µV for ND on LT); see Figure 3.”

From study:Muscle Recruitment and Asymmetry in Bilateral Shoulder Injury Prevention Exercises: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Between Tennis Players and Non-Tennis Players

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

association

Can only show association/correlation

Assessment Explanation

The study is observational and cross-sectional, so it can only show association, not causation. The claim uses 'exhibit' and 'suggesting' appropriately to reflect correlational evidence without implying causation.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Muscle Recruitment and Asymmetry in Bilateral Shoulder Injury Prevention Exercises: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Between Tennis Players and Non-Tennis Players

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2025 May 15

Tennis players use one arm a lot, so their shoulder muscles get used to working differently — this study found their back muscles don’t activate as much during certain exercises compared to other athletes, likely because their bodies adapted to tennis.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Muscle Recruitment and Asymmetry in Bilateral Shoulder Injury Prevention Exercises: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Between Tennis Players and Non-Tennis Players

Score: 34

DOI: 10.3390/healthcare13101153

Similar Assertions

When tennis players do a shoulder exercise lying face down with arms raised high, their shoulder blade muscles don't fire as strongly as in other athletes—sometimes less than half as much.

89%

When people do a shoulder exercise standing with a resistance band, tennis players and other athletes use their shoulder blade muscles about the same—so this exercise doesn't reveal the differences seen in other exercises.

87%

Tennis players activate their shoulder blade muscles much more when doing a shoulder exercise lying face down than when doing the same movement standing with a resistance band.

84%

Both tennis players and other athletes have some imbalance in how strongly each shoulder blade muscle works, but tennis players are more balanced when their arms are raised high, and more unbalanced when their arms are at a lower angle—like during a tennis stroke.

83%