GONIOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF SHOULDER RANGE OF MOTION - COMPARISON OF TESTING IN SUPINE AND SITTING POSITIONS

Objective: To examine intrarater reliability in measurements of active range of motion and passive range of motion of shoulder flexion and a bduction when motions are assessed in sitting, as compared with supine . Design: Thirty adult subjects were measured eight times, in random o rder, for each of the two shoulder motions: two passive and two active measurements while sitting, and two passive and two active measuremen ts while supine. Data were analyzed to determine intraclass correlatio n coefficients (ICCs) and paired t values between trials 1 and 2 for m easurements in the same position, and between sitting and supine trial s for each type of measurement. Settings: Rehabilitation facility and university. Study Population: Volunteer sample: II rehabilitation inpa tients; 19 university students. Results: ICCs between trials I and 2 o n comparable measurements in the same position indicated high intrarat er reliability for active and passive measurements, regardless of test ing position. ICCs between comparable measurements in the two testing positions indicated only a moderate level of agreement. Paired t tests between comparable readings taken in sitting versus supine revealed n o significant differences for flexion, but significantly higher measur ements of abduction when testing in the supine position. Conclusions: Measurements in sitting or supine yield similarly high intrarater reli ability. Lowered reliability between measurements taken in different p ositions indicates that test position should be routinely recorded, an d repeated clinical measures of individual subjects should be administ ered in a consistent position. (C) 1998 by the American Congress of Re habilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine an d Rehabilitation.