[Diagnostic value of physical examination tests for supraspinatus tendon tears]

To investigate the diagnostic value of 6 conventional physical examination tests for the diagnosis of supraspinatus tendon tears, and how well they could tell the difference between partial-and full-thickness tears.

A total of 91 patients with different shoulder symptoms who received shoulder arthroscopic procedure were enrolled in the study from June 2017 to September 2020. The intraoperative findings were compared with the results of the preoperative physical examination of 6 clinical tests, including the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0°abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test, to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, accuracy, positive and negative likelihood ratio of each test.

By arthroscopy, a total of 44 full-thickness tears, 34 partial-thickness tears, and 13 intact supraspinatus tendons were found in all 91 cases. The Hug-up and the Jobe tests significantly correlated with the intraoperative findings. The sensitivity of the Hug-up test, the Jobe test, the 0° abduction test, the drop arm test, the Neer test, and the Hawkins test was 0.90, 0.79, 0.64, 0.42, 0.49, 0.24 respectively;the specificity was 0.61, 0.69, 0.54, 0.38, 0.31, 0.77;the positive predictive value was 0.93, 0.94, 0.89, 0.80, 0.81, 0.86;the negative predictive value was 0.50, 0.36, 0.20, 0.10, 0.09, 0.14;the accuracy was 0.86, 0.78, 0.63, 0.42, 0.46, 0.32;the positive likelihood ratio was 2.30, 2.58, 1.39, 0.69, 0.71, 1.06;and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.16, 0.30, 0.67, 1.50, 1.65, 0.98.

The Jobe test and the Hug-up test are both effective at accurately diagnosing supraspinatus tendon tears, the Hug-up test detects supraspinatus tears with a high sensitivity, and similar specificity. The tests assessed in this study are not capable of distinguish between partial-and full thickness supraspinatus tendon tears.