Rotator Cuff Pathologies Flashcards
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Shoulder Rotator Cuff Tears:
- Classification = ?
- Characteristics = ?
- Manual Therapy = ?
- Therapeutic Exercise = ?
Shoulder Rotator Cuff Tears:
Classification:
- Rotator Cuff Tear
- Rotator Cuff Tendonopathy
- Rotator Cuff Syndrome
- Supraspinatus Tear
- Infraspinatus Tear
- Full Thickness RTC tear
Characteristics:
Pain Pattern:
- Anterior / Superior / Posterior shoulder Pain
- Possible painful arc of motion 60-120d abduction
- Pain with weakness
- Pain worse at night and with activity
Risk Factors:
- 35-64 Years Old
- Falls
- Overhead activities
- Increase in UE activities
- Prior shoulder pain/impingement
Observation:
- Drop arm sign
- Possible limited scapular upward mobility
- Kyphotic Posture or limited thoracic mobility
Examination:
- (+) Drop Arm Sign
- Modified Jobe
- Empty Can/Full Can
- Lag signs
- Lift off sign
- Belly Press test
Manual Therapy:
Joint Mobilization:
- Inferior / Posterior, Tractional GH Mobilizations
- AC and SC mobs
- Cervical & Thoracic mobilizations
- Hyper or Painful = I/II
- Hypo = III/IV/V
STM/MFR:
- Cross Frictional Pin and Stretch to RTC
- Pecs/Traps, Biceps
PNF:
- PNF diagonal ROM/stretching
- Multiple angle isometrics with humeral head control/centering
- Contract relax stretching for improved mobility utilizing PNF
- Increase speed with PNF for quick reversals from muscle groups and multiplanar activities
Therapeutic Exercise:
Motor:
- RTC Strengthening endurance, reactivation.
- Isometrics progressed to Theraband isotonics, weights, single plane progressing to multiple plane endurance
- Scapular Muscular Strengthening
- All Trapezius muscles, serratus, and rhomboids: Goals to improve scapular mobility and control.
- Thoracic Postural Muscles
- Improved mobility of T-spine in all planes especially extension and rotation.
- Body blade
- Rhythmical stabilization
- Humeral head control to avoid anterior/superior migration
- Undermining/challenging postural stability as progression.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Rotator Cuff Pathology Facts:
- 3 facts about prevalence = ?
Rotator Cuff Pathology - Prevalence:
- 11.1/1000 women
- 8.4/1000 men
- Peak age for high incidence 45-64 years old
Primary Impingement:
- Cumulative mictrotrauma
- Decreased subacromial space
- Hooked acromion
MOI:
- Insidious onset
- Repetitive activities
- FOOSH
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Rotator Cuff Pathology Facts:
- 3 symptoms = ?
Rotator Cuff Pathology Symptoms:
- Nightpain
- Pain with shoulder abduction, flextion, and rotation
Infraspinatus:
- Ant.Lat. shoulder and scapula medial border
Subscapularis:
- Post. shoulder and scapula, down medial arm to elbow.
Supraspinatus:
- Sup. shoulder and over spine of scapula.
Secondary Impingement:
- Excessive ROM into external rotation
- Weakness of internal rotators
- Decreased endurance ratios of the shoulder abductors and external rotators.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Rotator Cuff Pathology Facts:
- 3 Signs = ?
Rotator Cuff Pathology DSM/Signs:
Scapular Mobility Impairments:
- Decreased scapular posterior tilting
- Decreased scapular upward rotatiom
Humeral Mobility Impairments:
- Increased humeral anterior translation
- Increased humeral superior translation
Primary Impingement:
- Posterior capsule tightness
- Weak shoulder abduction, rotation, and flexion
- Painful arc
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Rotator Cuff Pathology Facts:
- 3 Special tests = ?
Rotator Cuff Pathology Special Tests:
- Supine impingement test
- Internal rotation lag sign
- External rotation lag sign
- Drop arm
- Hornblower’s sign
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
What do RTC pathologies sound like during subjective patient interview = ?
What do RTC pathologies sound like during subjective patient interview:
- Pain with Weakness
- Sudden onset after a fall (younger patient and/or older)
- Gradual onset with long history of shoulder pain (see progression on slide #2)
- Worse at night, wakes them up at night, or with overhead activities
- Persistent shoulder pain that doesn’t resolve with conservative treatment.
- Pain at night that is progressive
- Pain with resisted activities
- Difficulty lifting, throwing, or pushing.
- ROM limitations as the tear becomes worse
- Protective behaviors to avoid pain with the shoulder
- Irritated by direct pressure over the lateral shoulder such as sleeping on that shoulder
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
The primary function of the rotator cuff = ?
Rotator Cuff: The rotator cuff controls osteokinematic and arthrokinematic motion of the humeral head in the glenoid and along with the biceps depresses the humeral head during movements into elevation.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Full thickness tear presentations = ?
Full thickness tear presentations / Drop Arm Sign / Shrug Sign:
- Weak and painful although at some point the pain may actually be less.
- Typically, these are traumatic presentations. Degenerative tears as slow progressions towards this point and often seek out care before it gets to this point.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
True or False?
- Most minor rotator cuff patients don’t display a shrug sign or drop arm sign.
True - Most minor rotator cuff patients don’t display a shrug sign or drop arm sign.
- So, they don’t look like full thickness patients.
- They may have only slightly altered or reduced AROM.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Special tests for rotator cuff pathology include = ?
Special tests for rotator cuff pathology include:
- Lateral Jobe Test
- External Rotation Lag Sign (ERLS)
- Supraspinatus “Empty Can” Test
- Full can test
- Drop-Arm Test
- Hornblower’s Sign or Lateral Rotation Lag Test / Teres Minor & Infraspinatus Drop Sign
- Belly Press/Belly Off/Napoleon Test/Abdominal Compression Test
- Lift-off sign/Gerber test
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Lateral Jobe Test = ?
- Performing better in systematic review as a RTC tear test than empty can or full can.
- Patient’s arms abducted to 90 degrees with full internal rotation.
- Examiner applies an inferior force to the patients elbows as the patient resists.
- Positive Test: indicated by pain reproduction or weakness or inability to perform the test.
- SN = 81
- SP = 89
- Positive (+) LR = 7.36
- Negative (-) = LR .10
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
External Rotation Lag Sign (ERLS) = ?
- This test is good at doing what ?
External Rotation Lag Sign (ERLS):
- The patient is seated with the examiner standing to the rear.
- The examiner grasps the patient’s elbow with one hand and the wrist with the other.
- The examiner places the elbow in 90 degrees of flexion and the shoulder in 20 degrees of elevation in the scapular plane.
- The examiner passively externally rotates the shoulder to near end-range.
- SN = 42
- SP = 90
- Postive (+) LR = 4.20
- Negative (-) LR = .65
- Test to assess the integrity and tears of the supraspinatus (SSP) and infraspinatus muscles?
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
“Empty Can” Test = ?
Supraspinatus “Empty Can” Test:
- The patient elevates the arms to 90 degrees with thumbs up (full can position).
- The examiner provides downward pressure on the arms and notes the patient’s strength.
- The patient elevates the arms to 90 degrees and horizontally adducts 30 degrees (scapular plane) with thumbs pointed down as if “emptying a can.”
- The examiner provides downward pressure on the arms and notes the patient’s strength.
- Positive Test: For rotator cuff tear, examiner assessment of more weakness in the empty can position vs. the full can position, patient complaint of pain, or both.
- SN = 44
- SP = 90
- Positive (+) LR = 4.37
- Negative (-) LR = 0.62
- QUADAS = 10
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Full can test = ?
- The patient elevates the arms to 90 degrees with thumbs up (full can position).
- The examiner provides downward pressure on the arms and notes the patient’s strength.
- A positive test for rotator cuff tear is examiner assessment of more weakness in the involved shoulder, patient complaint of pain, or both.
- Utility score is 3 because of conflicting data
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Drop Arm Test = ?
- The patient is standing with the examiner, standing to the front.
- The examiner grasps the patient’s wrist and passively abducts the patient’s shoulder to 90 degrees.
- The examiner releases the patient’s arm with instructions to slowly lower the arm.
- A positive test for supraspinatus tear is the inability by the patient to lower the arm.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Hornblower’s Sign or Lateral Rotation Lag Test = ?
- The patient is seated, and the examiner supports the patient’s shoulder in 90 degrees of abduction in the scapular plane.
- The elbow is flexed to 90 degrees and the patient is asked to forcefully externally rotate the shoulder against the examiner’s resistance.
- A positive test is indicated by the inability of the patient to externally rotate in this position.
- The sign is actually where the hand falls down towards the mouth or as the video shows it the patient is only able to raise the arm up to the mouth instead of ER at 90d abduction
Alternatively, this test can be performed as an Infraspinatus drop test, don’t confuse this with the supraspinatus drop arm test, in which no resistance is applied, and the patient is simply trying to hold.
If the arm drops then the test is positive:
- The patient is seated with the examiner standing to the rear.
- The examiner grasps the patient’s elbow with one hand and the wrist with the other.
- The examiner places the elbow in 90 degrees of flexion and the shoulder in 90 degrees of elevation in the scapular plane.
- The examiner passively externally rotates the shoulder to near end-range.
- The examiner asks the patient to maintain this position as the patient’s wrist is released.
- A positive test for infraspinatus tear is indicated by a lag that occurs with the inability of the patient to maintain the arm near full external rotation.
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Belly Press / Belly Off / Napoleon Test / Abdominal Compression Test = ?
Belly Press / Belly Off / Napoleon Test / Abdominal Compression Test:
- The patient can sit or stand with elbow flexed to 90 degrees.
- The patient internally rotates the shoulder, causing the palm of the hand to be pressed into the stomach.
- Positive Test: Weakness in subscapularis. This is lack of pressure on the belly in upper left picture. By the elbow dropping behind the body into extension or inability of the patient to keep the hand on their abdomen.
- Excessive compensation of wrist flexion is another sign of failure.
- SN = 40 (NR)
- SP = 98 (NR)
- Psitive (+) LR = 20
- Negative (−) LR = 0.61
- QUADAS = 11
Rotator Cuff Pathologies
Lift-off sign / Gerber test = ?
- The patient is seated with affected arm behind his or her back.
- The patient is asked to lift the arm off the back.
- Positive Test: For subscapularis tear is indicated by inability of the patient to lift the arm off the back.