Manual landmark identification and tracking during the medial rotation test of the shoulder: an accuracy study using three-dimensional ultrasound and motion analysis measures.

Palpation of movement is a common clinical tool for assessment of movement in patients with musculoskeletal symptoms. The purpose of this study was to measure the accuracy of palpation of shoulder girdle translation during the medial rotation test (MRT) of the shoulder. The translation of the gleno-humeral and scapulo-thoracic joints was measured using both three-dimensional ultrasound and palpation in order to determine the accuracy of translation tracking during the MRT of the shoulder. Two movements of 11 normal subjects (mean age 24 (SD=4), range 19-47 years) were measured. The agreement between measures was good for scapulo-thoracic translation (r=0.83). Gleno-humeral translation was systematically under estimated (p=0.03) although moderate correlation was found (r=0.65). These results indicate that translation of the measured joints can be tracked by palpation and further tests of the efficacy of palpation tracking during musculoskeletal assessment may be warranted.