Observational assessment for determining shoulder fault movements before and after corrective education in participants with chronic shoulder pain: Concurrent validity study

Background

Movement faults (MF), described as the alteration of joint position and motion, are an important factor associated with developing shoulder pathologies. However, determining or predicting the exact MF in participants with shoulder pain is limited by the absence of clinical tools and poor validity.

Purpose

The aim of the study was to determine the validity of using observational assessment to MFs or controlling MFs in subjects with chronic shoulder pain during shoulder elevation and external rotation.

Study Design

Concurrent validity study

Methods

Twenty-seven people with chronic shoulder pain were examined. The index test represented three observational assessments of MF during shoulder external rotation, elevation in the frontal plane, and elevation in the sagittal plane. Three-dimensional motion analysis represented the reference test. The movements of both shoulder joints were evaluated simultaneously, and the index and reference tests were performed concurrently.

Results

The sensitivity and specificity of observational detection were good to excellent (Se: 77.5%, Sp: 81.5%) for MF and excellent (Se: 85.7%, Sp: 100%) for controlling MF. The positive and negative predictive value was (PPV: 93.9, NPV: 57.1) for MF and (PPV: 100%, NPV: 82.8%) for controlling MF. The result of the positive and negative likelihood ratio was (PLR: 5.4, NLR: 0.26) for MF and (PLR: 0, NLR: 0.18) for controlling MF.

Conclusions

The results revealed that the validity of the observational detection approach for identifying MFs was good to excellent. Moreover, the accuracy of this approach in detecting the control of MFs after patient education was excellent. There was good to excellent accuracy in most MFs once classified by their motion trajectories, except for scapula anterior tilt during glenohumeral joint external rotation or elevation.