© 1975 British Society for Rheumatology
research-article |
PRELIMINARY STUDIES IN MEASURING RANGE OF MOTION IN NORMAL AND PAINFUL STIFF SHOULDERS*
Oxford Rehabilitation Research Unit, Mary Marlborough Lodge, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre Headington, Oxford
Oxford Rehabilitation Research Unit, Mary Malborough Lodge, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre Headington, Oxford
Clinical Lecturer
Statistician
||Director
Correspondence to:
Present address: Department of Orthopaedics, Royal Victoria Hospital, 687 Pine Avenue West, Montresl, Quebec, Canada.
This study has been prompted by the need to provide basic data for prospective studies in the management of the painful stiff shoulder. We have used a hydrogoniometric technique of proven accuracy to measure passive movement at the gleno-humeral joint in a normal population, patients currently attending with a painful stiff shoulder, and a retrospective group. We have shown that there are significant age and sex differences in the range of motion of normal and affected groups. A significant number (42%) of patients had persisting limitation of range of the gleno-humeral joint six years after the onset of the disability. The study indicates the importance of matching patients for age and sex, and the need for long-term follow-up for meaningful results.
*Paper presented to a combined meeting of the British Association for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation, the Heberden Society, the Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Swiss Society for Rheumatology, Bristol, June 1974.