Preseason Shoulder Disability Scores and the Ability to Identify Collegiate Swimmers Who Sustain Shoulder Injuries

Collegiate- and elite-level swimmers can see extraordinary volumes in training throughout a season. Consequentially, injury and dysfunction in the shoulder are common in competitive swimmers. This study investigated whether preseason Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic Questionnaire scores could identify collegiate swimmers who sustained a shoulder injury during an athletic season. A Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic Questionnaire score of ≥81 was able to identify swimmers who did not sustain an injury versus those who did. The receiver operating characteristics demonstrated an area under the curve of 0.820, p < .004. A Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic Questionnaire score of 81 had a sensitivity of 1.00 and specificity of 0.333. The current findings suggest that selective preseason patient-reported outcome measures could be utilized as a preparticipation screening tool to investigate athlete readiness to compete.