SHOULDER PAIN IN COMPETITIVE TEENAGE SWIMMERS AND IT'S PREVENTION: A RETROSPECTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY OF PREVALENCE.

Background: The term "swimmer's shoulder" was first introduced in 1974 by Kennedy and Hawkins to describe a common condition among competitive swimmers characterized by pain and dysfunction of the shoulder complex. Currently, the term does not define a specific clinical diagnosis and its etiology is considered to be multifactorial. In the literature shoulder pain prevalence varies according to the adopted definitions (from 3% to 91%); however, in the Italian environment there is no prevalence study regarding swimmer shoulder.