Evaluating the effect of arm dominance on the wrist flexor muscle group thickness and strength, using ultrasound and hand-held dynamometry in college badminton players

Background: The wrist flexor muscle group is an important muscle group in the execution of a variety of different badminton shots, the strength of which is imperative for a badminton player to regain following injury. Objective: To evaluate the difference in wrist flexor muscle thickness and strength in the dominant vs non-dominant forearms of college badminton players. Methods: Bilateral scans were taken using a Philips, B-mode Aquila ultrasound machine in an effort to detect the difference in wrist flexor muscle thickness in 20 healthy subjects. Bilateral strength measurements were also taken using a J-tech Hand-Held Dynamometer to assess difference in dominant and non-dominant strength. Results: There were statistically significant differences when dominant and non-dominant strength and dominant and non-dominant size were compared with p-values of 0.034 and 0.006 respectively with p set at <0.05 for significance. There were mean percentage differences of statistical significance favouring the dominant forearm in relation to size and strength with strength being 10.50% greater and size being 12.40% greater on the dominant side. No such strength was seen in the correlations between dominant size and strength and non-dominant size and strength as both had r-values of 0.113 and 0.010 respectively with 1 being perfect correlation. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated statistically significant differences dominant and non-dominant strength of the wrist flexor muscle group following the application of non-parametric tests.