RELIABILITY OF GONIOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF ACTIVE ARM ELEVATION IN THE SCAPULAR PINE OBTAINED IN A CLINICAL SETTING

Our purpose was to determine the intratester and intertester reliabili ty of measurements of both scapular and glenohumeral rotation during a ctive arm elevation in the scapular plane with a new device, the scapu lohumeral goniometer (SHG). Ten physical therapists, with 1 to 29 year s of clinical experience, obtained repeated measurements on 45 subject s who were 27 to 82 years old. All subjects were tested in a uniform s tanding position with the handheld SHG, which was positioned over the subject's scapula and posterior shoulder according to operationally de fined landmarks. For both scapular and glenohumeral rotation, 50% of t he time the first and second measurements made on a patient by the sam e physical therapist differed by 3-degrees or more. Ten percent of the time, these measurements differed by 8-degrees or more. Measurements of active range of movement of scapular and glenohumeral rotation made by the same physical therapist during arm elevation in the scapular p lane are clinically unacceptable when obtained with the current techni ques for positioning the SHG. Clinical decisions based on results of a ctive scapular and humeral motion in the scapular plane as measured on a patient by the same therapist with an SHG should be made with cauti on, because of the variability associated with this procedure. (C) 199 4 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation