Upper Limbs Asymmetries in Young Competitive Paddle - Tennis Players

Abstract

There is little literature on asymmetries in paddle tennis, a sport of an asymmetrical nature. To study the development of upper limb asymmetries, 96 young paddle players and 76 skiers (control group) were evaluated via bioimpedance. The lean mass symmetry index was then compared, considering the sport (paddle tennis players and skiers) and the maturity offset (positive or negative). Paddle-tennis players had a systematically greater upper limbs asymmetry than skiers (7.2 ± 5 % vs. 1.4 ± 3.2 %; p < 0.001). This also occurs when comparing only the subsamples with a negative maturity offset (5.7 ± 3.2 % vs. 1.5 ± 3.8 %; p < 0.001) or with a positive maturity offset (8.3 ± 5.8 % vs. 1.3 ± 2.4 %; p < 0.001). The study reveals that paddle tennis generates asymmetries of lean mass in upper limbs, even before growth spurt.