Article

The Neer, Hawkins, and Yocum clinical tests detect sub-acromial
impingement as a pathogenic process of degenerative rotator cuff disease. Their
reproducibility has been little investigated.
OBJECTIVES: We tested the
reproducibility of the Neer, Hawkins, and Yocum clinical tests for detecting this
sub-acromial impingement and also an original clinical manoeuver, the countertest
with elevation with lateral rotation (CELR), which is a test of sub-acromial
impingement. METHODS: Patients with shoulder pain due to degenerative rotator
cuff disease were prospectively included. They were assessed with the Neer,
Hawkins and Yocum tests as well as the CELR twice at a 1 week interval. Intra-
and inter-observer reproducibility was assessed by percentage agreement and the
kappa coefficient of concordance with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Concordance
was poor with kappa 0.4, and good >0.61. It was considered
suitable for clinical use with kappa >0.4. RESULTS: We included 34 patients (mean
[SD] age 60 [11] years; 26 females). For intra-observer reproducibility,
agreement was 80% to 88%. By the kappa coefficient, intra-observer
reproducibility was poor for the Neer test and moderate for the Hawkins test
(0.56 [95% CI 0;0.9]) and Yocum test (0.48 [0;0.8]) and CELR (0.6 [0.2;0.9]). For
inter-observer reproducibility, agreement was 73% to 88%. By the kappa
coefficient, inter-observer reproducibility was poor for the Yocum test, moderate
for the Hawkins test (0.54 [0.2;0.8]) and CELR (0.58 [0.2;0.8]), and good for the
Neer test (0.64 [0.2;0.9]). CONCLUSION: The Hawkins test and CELR had a balanced
profile of reproducibility suitable for clinical practice. We underline the potential interest of CELR, an original manoeuver.
CI - Copyright (c) 2018. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Langue : ANGLAIS