Interrater reliability of the cervicothoracic and shoulder physical examination in patients with a primary complaint of shoulder pain.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the interrater reliability of cervicothoracic and shoulder physical examination in patients with a primary complaint of shoulder pain.

DESIGN: Single-group repeated-measures design for interrater reliability.

SETTING: Orthopaedic physical therapy clinics.

PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one patients with a primary complaint of shoulder pain underwent a standardized examination by a physical therapist (PT). A PT conducted the first examination and one of two additional PTs conducted the 2nd examination.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Cohen κ and weighted κ were used to calculate the interrater reliability of ordinal level data. Intraclass correlation coefficients model 2,1 (ICC2,1) and the 95% confidence intervals were calculated to determine the interrater reliability.

RESULTS: The kappa coefficients ranged from -.24 to .83 for the mobility assessment of the glenohumeral, acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joints. The kappa coefficients ranged from -.20 to .58 for joint mobility assessment of the cervical and thoracic spine. The kappa coefficients ranged from .23 to 1.0 for special tests of the shoulder and cervical spine.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study reported the reliability of a comprehensive upper quarter physical examination for a group of patients with a primary report of shoulder pain. The reliability varied considerably for the cervical and shoulder examination and was significantly higher for the examination of muscle length and cervical range of motion.