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.

Scientific Claim

During prone scapular retraction at 90°, tennis players demonstrate markedly reduced peak muscle activation (RMS) in the middle and lower trapezius compared to non-tennis athletes, with peak values 40–50% lower, indicating diminished neuromuscular recruitment capacity in these stabilizers under high-load conditions.

Original Statement

“N–TPs exhibited higher RMS peaks: 960 µV vs. 568 µV for D and 974 µV vs. 564 µV for ND in MT; 944 µV vs. 529 µV for D and 938 µV vs. 476 µV for ND in LT (Figure 5).”

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 claim uses 'demonstrate' and 'indicating' to reflect observed associations from sEMG data, avoiding causal language. The study design supports correlational claims with quantitative metrics.

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, which makes the shoulder muscles on that side weaker during certain exercises compared to athletes who use both arms evenly — this study found that, especially when raising arms to 90 degrees.

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

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.

90%

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.

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%

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.

85%