HOW TO ASSESS THE SHOULDER STRENGTH OF YOUR PATIENTS?
OR HOW THE ROTATOR CUFF PLAYS A CENTRAL ROLE IN SHOULDER HEALTH?
To assess shoulder strength, you need reliable and valid tools that allow repeatable measurements over time, and that actually measure what they are supposed to measure.
Indeed, shoulder pain is almost always related to a weakness of the rotator cuff (consecutive or at the origin of the pain, it is difficult to answer today). A look !
The rotator cuff is a set of muscles (subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus and teres minor) that ensure the stability of the shoulder, and also its rotational components. These are capricious muscles, which do not tolerate large load variations very much. It is therefore important that they are strong to better tolerate the constraints of everyday life and sports.
Shoulder strength measurements
The use of a manual dynamometer to evaluate the force on the lateral and medial rotation of the shoulder is reliable in intra-examiner (ICC=0.88) and quite reliable in inter-examining (ICC=0.71) according to (Cools, 2016). We find similar data with ICCs between 0.84 and 0.91 according to (Chen, 2021).
These measurements are correlated with isokinetics (Cools, 2016; Croteau, 2021), which therefore makes them a tool of choice in the evaluation of the strength of the lateral and medial rotators (indeed, isokinetic dynamometers are the gold- current standard for the evaluation of muscular performance). Being positively and so importantly correlated to the gold-standard which costs tens of thousands is great for a portable device at a reasonable price!
Perform a shoulder strength assessment test
How do I perform a quality pressure dynamometer force assessment test?
- First, we need to standardize the passing of the test (set the conditions for passing the test).
- Next, we need to compare the readings to the opposite side (otherwise we have no data to compare).
- The more your hand (which holds the dynamometer) will be fixed (quite complex sometimes), the more the value will be reliable (because you will not compensate differently each time by pushing yourself more or less hard against the person being evaluated).
These indications are all detailed in the Kinvent Physio mobile application, which will accompany and guide you on a daily basis in your measurements.
TAKEAWAY
The K-Push Manual Pressure Dynamometer is extremely versatile and very easy to use for assessing the shoulder strength of your patients or athletes. Why not use it also to properly assess these, and no longer carry out rehabilitation programs in the dark, without objective data?