Does This Patient With Shoulder Pain Have Rotator Cuff Disease?
A recent article in JAMA looked at the accuracy of clinical assessment of the shoulder in assessing the presence of rotator cuff disease.
Most helpfully, the article was accompanied by this cool video demonstrating the various clinical tests.
There were six Main Findings
1. Presence or absence of pain was not discriminatory
2. Atrophy of infraspinatus makes Dx more likely
3. Painful arc test was useful (pain begins at 60 degrees)
4. +ve lag test accurate for diagnosing tear. A negative internal lag test exluded tear)
5. +ve drop arm test increasaed likelihood of rotator cuff problem.
6. Pain with external rotation agains resistance was an accurate indicator.