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Related Experiment Videos

Reliability of 3 methods for assessing shoulder strength.

Kimberley Hayes1, Judie R Walton, Zoltan L Szomor

  • 1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, St George Hospital Campus, University of New South Wales, Kogarah 2217, Sydney, NSW Australia.

Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery
|February 15, 2002
PubMed
Summary

A handheld dynamometer offers the most reliable method for assessing rotator cuff strength in symptomatic individuals. This tool demonstrated excellent reliability across various shoulder movements in interrater and intrarater trials.

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Area of Science:

  • Orthopedics
  • Sports Medicine
  • Rehabilitation Science

Background:

  • Assessing shoulder joint isometric strength in symptomatic individuals lacks established reliability.
  • Accurate strength measurement is crucial for diagnosing and managing shoulder conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the reliability of different methods for measuring shoulder joint isometric strength in symptomatic subjects.
  • To compare the reliability of manual muscle tests, handheld dynamometers, and spring-scale dynamometers.

Main Methods:

  • Interrater and intrarater agreement trials were conducted.
  • Five different shoulder movements were tested using manual muscle tests, a handheld dynamometer, and a spring-scale dynamometer.
  • Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated using a random-effects model.

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Main Results:

  • The handheld dynamometer showed excellent interrater reliability for all tested shoulder movements (rho = 0.79-0.92).
  • Excellent intrarater reliability was observed for elevation, external rotation, and internal rotation using the handheld dynamometer (rho = 0.79-0.96).
  • The handheld dynamometer was significantly more reliable than manual muscle tests for the lift-off maneuver in interrater trials (P =.002).

Conclusions:

  • The handheld dynamometer is the most reliable and discriminatory tool for assessing rotator cuff strength in symptomatic individuals.
  • This finding supports the use of handheld dynamometers in clinical practice for shoulder strength evaluation.
  • Further research may explore its utility in specific shoulder pathologies.