Rethinking Warm-Up in Overhead Exercise: Acute Shoulder Responses to a Strength- and Mobility-Oriented Protocol in Youth Athletes

Overhead sports place high demands on the shoulder complex, making warm-up specificity relevant for acute readiness. This randomized controlled pilot trial compared the immediate effects of a shoulder-specific warm-up with a habitual routine in 24 youth competitive overhead athletes (14–20 years), allocated to an experimental group (EG = 12) and a standard warm-up group (SWG = 12). Outcome measures were collected before and immediately after warm-up and included shoulder flexion range of motion (ROM), handgrip strength, Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability (CKCUES) performance, and post-warm-up Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE; Borg CR-10). A significant group-by-time interaction was found for right shoulder flexion ROM (p = 0.003, η²p = 0.346), with a significant increase in the EG from baseline to post-test (p = 0.008). No significant effects were observed for left shoulder flexion ROM, handgrip strength, or CKCUES performance. Post-warm-up RPE was significantly higher in the EG than in the SWG (p = 0.041). These preliminary findings support the practical value of more targeted warm-up strategies in overhead sports, while larger longitudinal studies are needed to confirm their broader functional relevance.