A bibliometric analysis of knowledge structure and research trends in swimmer's shoulder (2015-2025)
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Abstract
Shoulder pain remains one of the most common and persistent problems in competitive swimming. Unlike acute traumatic injuries, swimmer's shoulder usually develops gradually through the combined effects of repetitive stroke motion, fluctuating training load, movement compensation, and insufficient recovery. Although an expanding body of research has examined this topic from the perspectives of biomechanics, training load, muscle function, and rehabilitation, the overall knowledge structure and developmental trajectory of the field remain insufficiently clarified. To address this gap, the present study conducted a bibliometric analysis of swimmer's shoulder research using the Web of Science Core Collection. A total of 195 publications published between 2015 and 2025 were included. Publication trends, core authors, leading journals, country-level contributions, relative growth rate, doubling time, field-normalised citation score, and keyword co-occurrence patterns were analysed with CiteSpace and VOSviewer. The results show a sustained increase in research output and the emergence of a relatively stable but heterogeneous academic network. Clear differences were observed between high-output and high-impact contributors, particularly at the journal and country levels. Keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and timeline analyses indicate a transition from symptom-oriented research toward mechanism-based and intervention-oriented approaches, with increasing attention to biomechanics, functional assessment, monitoring, prevention, and rehabilitation. The study proposes a three-level framework of symptom identification, mechanism explanation, and intervention-oriented management. This framework integrates fragmented findings and clarifies how swimmer's shoulder research has evolved from describing pain to explaining mechanisms and informing applied prevention and rehabilitation strategies.
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