• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.13-16
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• 2001

Object: To determine the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of an empty can test for diagnosing supraspinatus tendon tear. Methods: We reviewed 146 patients who have shoulder pain with limited active range of motion. We evaluated patients according to empty can test. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for supraspinatus test was estimated using arthroscopic evaluation. Results: A hundred and twenty-four of 127 cases with positive empty can test had supraspinatus tendon tear. Of 19 samples with negative empty can test, 15 had no supraspinatus tear. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for the empty can test were 97.6%, 83.3%, 97.6%, and 78.9%, respectively. Conclusions: Empty can test was found to have a high sensitivity and good positive predictive value in identifying the tear of rotator cuff tendon. We concluded that empty can test of the shoulder is a reliable diagnostic method which could be used for the diagnosis of rotator cuff tear.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.186-190
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• 2001

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of Neer, Hawkins provocative tests and supraspinatus manual muscle test for the assessment of impingement syndrome, partial tear and small complete tear of De rotator cuff. Materials and Methods: Seventy-one female and 115 male patients were included in the study. Patients were divided into four groups of no impingement, impingement without tear, partial tear and small complete tear of the rotator cuff, which were confirmed by sonogram, magnetic resonance imaging and surgery. Neer and Hawkins provocative tests and supraspinatus manual muscle test were performed respectively. SAS 6.12 version was used in statistical analysis. Results: We found that Neer test had 94% sensitivity, 54% specificity for impingement without tear and 89% sensitivity, 78% specificity for partial tear and 96% sensitivity, 23% specificity for small tear. Hawkins test revealed 95% sensitivity, 54% specificity for impingement without tear and 93% sensitivity, 78% specificity for partial tear and 100% sensitivity, 23% specificity for small tear. Supraspinatus manual muscle test revealed 27% sensitivity, 94% specificity for impingement without tear and 29% sensitivity, 82% specificity for partial tear and 48% sensitivity, 82% specificity for small tear. Conclusion: Neer and Hawkins tests have high sensitivity, low specificity for impingement syndrome, partial and small tear. Supraspinatus manual muscle test had low sensitivity and high specificity. However this test was not effective to differentiate the partial and small rotator cuff tear. We thought that more effective provocative test should be designed to detect the partial and small rotator cuff tear.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.77-87
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to compare the changes of muscle activities in deltoid with those in supraspinatus using electromyography(EMG) while subjects abducted their shoulder to different angles with different resistance. Methods : 20 volunteers who were comprised of 10 males(mean age: $21.2{\pm}2.0$) and 10 females(mean age: $20.2{\pm}1.6$) were collected. Surface electrodes were attached on deltoid and supraspinatus muscle for recording. Each reference electrode was located 3 cm to the each recording electrode. Muscle action potentials were recorded with changing the angle of shoulder abduction, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$. This procedure was repeated with different resistance 0 pound, 2 pounds, 4.5pounds. The angle of shoulder abduction was determined by clinical goniometer. SPSS(Statistical Program for Social Science)/WIN 10.0 was used for statistics. Analysis included ANOVA, T-test. Results : The following results were obtained in this study. 1. There was significant differences during isometric shoulder abduction $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$ comparing muscle activity in deltoid and supraspinatus muscles at 0 pound, 2pound, 4.5pound resistance(p<0.05). 2. There was no useful significant in the deltoid and supraspinatus muscles activity EMG compared by physical condition. 3. Their was significant in the deltoid EMG compared by gender t=-5.41, P<0.01, but no difference in the supraspinatus EMG(P=0.333 >a=0.05). Conclusions: There are many previous studies on influence of shoulder angles and speeds of muscle activity. However most of them placed the focus on isotonic or isokinetic exercise, or shoulder function. But this study was done during isometric exercise, which is better for early assessment and treatment for injured patients. There is strong relationship between the shoulder angle with resistance in deltoid supraspinatus muscle activity. We conclude that it is important to apply isometric shoulder abduction exercise with correct angle and resistance especially in early stage.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.84-92
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• 2016

Background: Strengthening the supraspinatus is an important aspect of a rehabilitation program for subacromial impingement and tendinopathy. Many authors recommended empty-can (EC), full-can (FC), and prone full-can (PFC) exercises to strengthen the supraspinatus. However, no ultrasonography study has yet investigated supraspinatus muscle architecture (muscle thickness; MT, pennation angle; PA, fiber bundle length; FBL) in relation to supraspinatus strengthening exercises. Objects: The purpose of this study was to compare the architecture (MT, PA, and FBL) of the supraspinatus muscle during three different types of exercises (EC, FC, and PFC) using diagnostic ultrasound. Methods: Participants performed three different exercises: (A) EC; the arm was maintained at $60^{\circ}$ abduction with full internal rotation in the sitting position, (B) FC; the arm was maintained at $60^{\circ}$ abduction with full external rotation in the sitting position, and (C) PFC; the arm was maintained at $60^{\circ}$ abduction with full external rotation in the prone position. Ultrasonography was used to measure the MT, PA and FBL of the supraspinatus. One-way repeated analysis of variance with Bonferroni's post-hoc test was used to compare between the three exercises and the initial position of each exercise. Results: Compared with each initial position, the FC exercise showed the greatest mean difference in muscle architecture properties and the PFC exercise showed the least mean difference. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the FC exercise position may have an advantage in increasing the amount of contractile tissue or producing muscle power and the PFC exercise position may be useful in a rehabilitation program because it offers the advantage of maintaining the muscle architecture properties.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2007

Purpose: To investigate the validity of positive signs of supraspinatus test. Materials and Methods: The empty can test and full can test were performed on 200 shoulders which were diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging or surgical findings as full thickness tear, partial thickness tear and no tear. Presence of pain, weakness, pain or weakness, and both pain and weakness were recorded as positive signs separately. The two tests with positive signs were compared and analyzed. Results: Pain and weakness were severity-dependent, and the empty-can test had a higher incidence of pain. The sensitivities of the two supraspinatus tests in all positive signs were higher when including partial-thickness tears in the tear group; however, their specificities were higher when excluding partial-thickness tears. The sensitivities of an empty-can test in 'pain', 'pain or weakness', 'both pain and weakness' were higher than those of the full-can test, otherwise, the specificity of the full-can test for 'pain' and 'pain or weakness' were higher. Concordance rate between 'pain or weakness' and 'pain' was the highest in all categorization. Conclusion: Both empty can and full can test were valuable for detecting torn rotator cuff.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.157-166
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• 2014

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to determine whether adding an angled oblique sagittal plane to the routine shoulder MRI improves the diagnostic performance in the evaluation of supraspinatus tendon tears with arthroscopic correlation. Materials and Methods: The study included 121 patients who had a shoulder MRI followed by arthroscopy. Two radiologists separately evaluated the supraspinatus tendon for tears on shoulder MRI either with or without the angled oblique sagittal images. Arthroscopy was used as the reference standard. The sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing supraspinatus tendon tears were calculated and compared by using McNemar test. Interobserver and intertechnique variability in the interpretation of supraspinatus tendon tears were calculated as a kappa value. Results: Adding the angled oblique sagittal images to the standard shoulder MRI showed improvement in the sensitivity for diagnosing full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears and also in the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the detection of partial-thickness tears. However, there was no statistically significant difference in all of them between with and without the angled set. Interobserver agreement was substantial to almost perfect and intertechnique agreement was moderate. Conclusion: Adding an angled oblique sagittal plane image to the routine shoulder MRI showed no significantly different diagnostic performance in detecting the partial- and full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears, compared to MRI without angled oblique sagittal plane.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.117-122
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• 2018

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of vibration exercises generated from an $XCO^{(R)}$ trainer on supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and deltoid muscle thickness. Methods: Thirty subjects were evenly divided into two groups. Muscle thickness was measured by a sonogram prior to the study, and at three and six weeks after the intervention. Changes in muscle thickness were analyzed using a repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). The significance level for the statistical test was set at ${\alpha}=0.05$. Results: A statistically significant differences in timing, interactions between timing and the groups, and between-group changes were demonstrated for supraspinatus muscle thickness (p<0.05). A similar finding was reported for infraspinatus, teres minor, and deltoid muscles with regard to the interactions between timing and the groups (p<0.05), although the between-group change did not reach statistical significance (p>0.05). Conclusion: Significant changes were observed in the thickness of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and deltoid muscles, owing to the use of vibration exercises generated from an $XCO^{(R)}$ trainer. These findings can be used as a foundation for future studies on rehabilitation training.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.166-174
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• 2014

Background: Our study was to determine the effect on shoulder isokinetic muscle strength and muscle endurance in isolated full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tear and combined other rotator cuff tear. Methods: Total of 81 male patients (mean age $57.8{\pm}7.4$ years) who were diagnosed as a full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tear were included. They were classified into isolated or combined tear. The isokinetic muscle strength and muscle endurance were measured using the Biodex multi-joint system $PRO^{(R)}$ (Biodex Medical Systems, Shirley, NY, USA) in following movements: shoulder abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, external rotation, and internal rotation. Then, the difference in muscle function according to the type of tears were assessed. Fifty-seven patients had isolated supraspinatus tendon (mean age $56.9{\pm}7.3$ years). They were classified into either anteroposterior tear or modified mediolateral tear. The size were measured using T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans in sagittal plane. Results: Between subjects categorized into the type of tear, we found significant inter-categorical differences in isokinetic muscle strength during abduction, adduction, flexion, extension, and internal rotation, and in muscle endurance during flexion, extension, and internal rotation. Anteroposterior diameter tear, we did not show significant differences in either isokinetic muscle strength or muscle endurance during any movements. However, with modified mediolateral diameter, we found significant differences with isokinetic muscle strength during adduction, and in muscle endurance the external rotation and internal rotation. Conclusions: We found that a supraspinatus tendon tear associated with more numbers of rotator cuff tears has lower isokinetic muscle strength and muscle endurance than a tear found alone.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.56-63
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to examine how an effective rehabilitation exercise program influences the activity of shoulder muscles, and to help the clinical application of a rehabilitation program, for prevention and relief of pain, adhesion, and joint stiffness of patients who undergo rotator cuff repair. Methods: Nine test subjects were placed randomly into each group for a total of 27 subjects and exercise program interventions according to the group were conducted for six weeks, after which maximum voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC) value was re-measured for supraspinatus muscle, infraspinatus muscle, serratus anterior muscle, and middle deltoid muscle in all groups in order to compare changes in muscle activity before and after the experiment in order to perform comparative analysis of changes in muscle activity between groups, based on which four experimental hypotheses were confirmed. Results: Changes in muscle activity according to %MVIC showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.01) (p<0.001) in all muscles, except the middle deltoid muscle, and post-verification results showed that changes in muscle activity according to %MVIC were greater in test groups I and II, compared with the control group, for the supraspinatus muscle, infraspinatus muscle, and serratus anterior muscle. Conclusion: Therefore, rehabilitation through use of the methods described above should be applied efficiently in clinical settings and more research in development of much more efficient rehabilitation program interventions must be conducted.

• The Academic Congress of Korean Shoulder and Elbow Society
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.3-4
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• 1999

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.