Facebook Pixel
Brookbush Institute Logo
Preview

Shoulder Special Test: Drop Arm Test

Learn how to perform the shoulder special test: Drop Arm Test. It is a diagnostic tool used to detect any torn or over stretched muscles, joints, and tendons in the shoulder. Step-by-step instructions included.

11 likes

Transcript

00:04 - 00:06This is Brent of the Brookbush
00:06 - 00:07Institute, and in this video we're going over
00:07 - 00:09a special, or orthopedic test for the
00:09 - 00:12shoulder. This is known as the Drop Arm
00:12 - 00:14Test and is indicative of supraspinatus
00:14 - 00:16tear and/or impingement syndrome.
00:16 - 00:17I'm going to have my friend, Melissa, come
00:17 - 00:19out. She's going to help me demonstrate.
00:19 - 00:22Now, our subjective evaluation would have
00:22 - 00:25led us to believe that, maybe, Melissa has
00:25 - 00:27done something to damage her rotator
00:27 - 00:29cuff. So, I'm going to have her go ahead and
00:29 - 00:30face me. You're going to stand in front
00:30 - 00:32of your patient. You're going to help
00:32 - 00:37them to 90 degrees of abduction. Good. Can
00:37 - 00:39you hold that right there? Nowm what I
00:39 - 00:42want you to do is slowly let both of
00:42 - 00:46your arms down to your sides. Okay.
00:46 - 00:48We're going to go ahead and turn around
00:48 - 00:50and show this to you. You're supposed
00:50 - 00:52to be in front of your patient. I'm going to
00:52 - 00:54have to turn behind Melissa here. So, I'm
00:54 - 00:56going to passively take her into
00:56 - 01:00abduction and ask her, "Can you hold this?" Okay,
01:00 - 01:01if they can't hold that, that's a good
01:01 - 01:03indication that you have a positive Drop
01:03 - 01:05Arm Test already. Okay, now slowly lower
01:05 - 01:08your arms down. And what you'll notice,
01:08 - 01:10guys, in the Drop Arm Test is one arm-
01:10 - 01:15they're not able to slowly decelerate
01:15 - 01:18adduction. That's an indication that
01:18 - 01:20they're supraspinatus can't do its
01:20 - 01:23job and/or it's painful. As I mentioned
01:23 - 01:25before, this could be an indicator of
01:25 - 01:29impingement, although I don't see it used
01:29 - 01:32as often for that particular diagnosis.
01:32 - 01:35This test does happen to be very
01:35 - 01:40specific but not particularly sensitive.
01:40 - 01:44My guess is is that when you see this, it
01:44 - 01:49is most likely supraspinatus issues, but
01:49 - 01:51because your deltoid is such a
01:51 - 01:54strong abductor, it's also very possible
01:54 - 01:57that you have supraspinatus issues
01:57 - 02:00and still pass the Drop Arm Test. That is,
02:00 - 02:02you get a negative result on the Drop
02:02 - 02:06Arm Test, because your deltoid is able to
02:06 - 02:08compensate. So, let me go over this one
02:08 - 02:11more time, guys. Passively, you're
02:11 - 02:14going to bring them up to 90 degrees. Now
02:14 - 02:16what you need to do is be able to see
02:16 - 02:17from the front
02:17 - 02:20here, whether they can slowly and
02:20 - 02:24smoothly allow both arms to equally come
02:24 - 02:27back down to adduction. If it's not
02:27 - 02:30equal and it doesn't look smooth, that is a
02:30 - 02:35positive Drop Arm Test. Now, of course, I'm
02:35 - 02:38going to use this in a cluster of exams.
02:38 - 02:41I'm not going to rely on this test by
02:41 - 02:43itself. I'm going to go ahead and do my
02:43 - 02:44impingement exams. I'm going to do
02:44 - 02:46other rotator cuff exams. I'm going to
02:46 - 02:49use that subjective exam. I'll gather all
02:49 - 02:52of that data together to start creating
02:52 - 02:55a hypothesis, and then I'm going to use
02:55 - 02:57that hypothesis to start
02:57 - 03:00selecting interventions. Now, if this is
03:00 - 03:03the positive test and is
03:03 - 03:06what we are trying to improve, then this is
03:06 - 03:07the test I'm going to keep coming back
03:07 - 03:11to in my quick tests so that I can tell
03:11 - 03:13whether my intervention is being
03:13 - 03:14successful, and don't think that all
03:14 - 03:15of your interventions are going to be
03:15 - 03:20successful. Even if there's no
03:20 - 03:22improvement between the first time I did
03:22 - 03:24the drop arm test, the interventions I
03:24 - 03:26just did, and the second time I did the
03:26 - 03:29Drop Arm Test, that's just that many more
03:29 - 03:31interventions I'm not going to use and
03:31 - 03:33I've narrowed down my focus. I hope you
03:33 - 03:35guys enjoyed this video. I hope you add
03:35 - 03:37one more assessment to your bag of
03:37 - 03:39assessments, because as you guys
03:39 - 03:40improve as professionals, I can promise
03:40 - 03:48you one thing. It's not the hundreds of
03:48 - 03:50interventions and hundreds of techniques that you will learn that are
03:50 - 03:53going to make you a marquee practitioner,
03:53 - 03:57it is the large amount of assessments
03:57 - 03:59and your ability to create an accurate
03:59 - 04:03hypothesis that is going to make you
04:03 - 04:06rise to the top as a practitioner. Step
04:06 - 04:07up your assessment game. I look forward
04:07 - 04:10to seeing you guys soon.
04:16 - 04:18

Comments

Guest

3 Certifications, 165+ Courses, 500+ videos, and so much more!

The Brookbush Institute (BI) continues to improve affordability, access, flexibility, and convenience to the highest-quality education.

The Bl is the only approved/accredited certification and continuing education course provider with a true monthly membership model (cancel anytime).

This reduces the initial cost of education to just 3-5% of comparable education, improving access to complete, continue, or just "try" education with low financial risk. Don't get fooled by great marketing to make a large purchase for potentially sub-optimal education. Become a member, and find out why we think this is the way education should be!


or
Sign Up with Email Address
Already Have an Account? Sign In