title: Reliability of palpation of humeral head position in asymptomatic shoulders.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine if, within a normal population: (1) palpation of the humeral head, relative to the acromion, in three static positions, was a reliable technique (2) there was a difference in humeral head position between the dominant and non-dominant shoulders in the three positions (3) there was a difference in humeral head position relative to the acromion between the arm at side (AS), the 90 degrees abduction/external rotation (AER) and 90 degrees abduction/internal rotation (AIR) positions. This test-retest study recorded palpation landmarks using a standardized protocol. Intra-tester reliability was above 0.8 for both AS and AER and all other ICCs were below 0.6. There was no systematic difference between dominant and non-dominant sides in any of the three positions (AS P=0.408, AER P=0.448, AIR P=0.233). There was a significant difference in measurements between each position (P<0.001). It can be concluded that, palpation of humeral head position in relation to the acromion is a reliable technique in the AS position. These normative data provide a baseline that can be used for future comparison if differences are found to exist in subgroups with pathological shoulder conditions where larger glenohumeral translations are thought to exist.
authors.affiliation: School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987 Perth, Western Australia 6845.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bryde
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jane Freure
authors.forename: Leighton
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Werstine
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kathryn Briffa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006811:Humerus / Q000502:physiology*; D008023:Ligaments, Articular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010173:Palpation / Q000379:methods*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017006:Rotator Cuff; D012782:Shoulder / Q000502:physiology*; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000502:physiology*