Background Shoulder and elbow injuries have been reported to constitute a sizeable percentage of injuries in overhead sports, including badminton. Since badminton requires repetitive, high-speed overhead motions putting high loads on the upper extremity joints, the badminton players frequently complain of pain and decreased function of shoulders and elbows.

Objective The study evaluated the ultrasound abnormalities of selected shoulder and elbow tendons in recreational badminton players and investigated their correlation with hand dominance and clinical symptoms.

Design This pilot study was designed as a cross-sectional research.

Setting & Participants Forty-nine badminton players participating in recreational badminton clubs were invited to Wonju Sports Training Center from March to June 2016.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) The subjects underwent clinical and US examinations, both in dominant and non-dominant arms. The ultrasound assessments were performed by two residents of rehabilitation medicine.

Main Outcome Measurements This study evaluated any correlation between the presence of US abnormalities of supraspinatus, long head of biceps, ECRB and hand dominance as well as clinical symptoms.

Results Among 26 players with shoulder/elbow lesions in ultrasound, 8 (31%) players were asymptomatic while 18 (69%) players had pain in dominant arm. The relationship between the presence of shoulder/elbow lesions and current pain showed no significance (p=0.255, 0.91, 0.9). Supraspinatus partial tear/calcifications were observed in 8 dominant vs 1 non-dominant shoulders (odds ratio=2.462, p=0.628), long head of biceps partial tears/calcifications in 3 dominant vs 1 non-dominant shoulders (odds ratio=0.667, p=0.6), and lateral epicondyle fluid collection/partial tears in 10 dominant vs 3 non-dominant elbows (odds ratio=0.606, p=0.5).

Conclusions Although ultrasound abnormalities involving supraspinatus, biceps, lateral epicondyle showed an overall tendency of higher prevalence in the dominant arm, the result did not show significant differences according to hand dominance or clinical symptoms. Further studies with larger number of subjects are needed in the future.