Introduction: Sports activities involving repetitive force application leads to mechanical or compressive
neuropathies among players. Sparse literature is available reporting such nerve pathologies among badminton
players. The study was done with the objective to find out what is the influence of regular and intense practice
of badminton on the nerve conduction velocity (NCV) of ulnar nerve in elite players when compared to normal
healthy individuals.
Materials & Methods: 2 groups of total 20 asymptomatic male subjects, between 20-40 years age, were
created where one group included elite badminton players (n=10), and another included subjects who have
not participated in any of the sports activities (n=10). Conduction velocities and distal latencies for motor and
sensory part of ulnar nerve was done for subjects in both groups. Mean and standard deviation was calculated
for descriptive statistics and comparison was done using 2-way ANOVA test.
Results: Distal motor and sensory latencies for ulnar nerve suggested significant delays in non-badminton
players when compared to elite players (p<0.05). Comparison of sensory conduction velocities for ulnar nerve
between badminton players and normal subjects showed significant difference (p<0.05).
Discussion: Delay in sensory and motor conduction and reduction of sensory conduction velocities for ulnar
nerve in badminton players can be attributed to repeated excursion, peripheral location of fibres, and
dominance of players.
Conclusion: The results of the study concluded that there is an influence of regular and intense practice of
badminton on ulnar nerve of elite players when compared to age matched normal subjects.
Keywords: Badminton, nerve conduction, ulnar nerve, upper limb.
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