Screening tests for shoulder joint assessment
The shoulder examination should be carried out systematically and both extremities should be compared bilaterally. This joint is characterised by the fact that it is the most mobile joint in the skeleton, which also makes it the most “unstable”.
Initially, we must proceed to verify whether the pain is due to a shoulder pathology or any other problem, mainly cervical pathology.
– Inspection: note the presence of abnormal bone relief, muscle atrophy, inflammation and scarring.
– Palpation: confirm the inspection data by palpating the bony and soft tissue anatomical structures of the shoulder.
– Mobility: the active arc should always be assessed, while the passive arc should only be assessed when the active movement is incomplete.
– Normal values:
- Abduction: 160 – 180º.
- Flexion or Antepulsion: 160-180º.
- Extension or Retropulsion: 40-60º.
- Adduction: 60° (front), 45° (rear).
- External rotation: 45°, if performed in 90° abduction it becomes 90°.
- Internal rotation: 60-80º (Assess whether it reaches: buttock, sacrum, lumbar spine or dorsal spine).
Did you know that you can use VR for shoulder joint assessment?
Virtual reality in rehabilitation helps us to improve the motivation and active participation of the patient, but we can also find professional programmes that record data and objectively measure their evolution.
Therefore, we can use virtual reality and new technologies to obtain data automatically; about joint ranges, whether of the shoulder or other large joints such as the elbow, hip or knee.
With Rehametrics Physical, the Kinect sensor is able to accurately pick up the position of 25 body points at a rate of 30 FPS (Frames Per Second).
This means that we are going to obtain a recording of the session, where the patient’s face does not appear, but a design that represents him/her and reproduces the movements he/she has made.
Shoulder rehabilitation with VR headset
Virtual reality glasses allow us to perform physical rehabilitation exercises and especially for the upper limbs we find a variety of activities.
With the Rehametrics Occupational VR software we can carry out everyday tasks (eating, cooking, handling objects, hanging clothes…), work tasks (handling tools, painting a wall…). In addition, attention exercises, reaction speed, motor praxias or even assessment tests such as the Box and Block Test or the Nine Hole Peg Test.
It is also very interesting to be able to offer relaxing environments (landscapes such as a forest, a desert, a sea bed…) for the approach of patients with Kinesiophobia or simply to distract the patient while more painful treatment techniques are applied.
