Electromyographic Analysis of Biceps during Provocative Tests

The electromyographic activity of four muscles of biceps, rotator cuffs (supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis) was measured from the non-dominant shoulders of 12 volunteers during six methods of provocative test for the biceps pathology. Any method of provocative test can not isolates the biceps activity prominently compared to the other rotator cuff muscles. But the Speed test can more isolates the activity of biceps than the other tests. Based upon this study, we think that the O'Brien's test is not a provocative maneuver by which the pain reproduced is not associated with the tension generated within the biceps tendon.