RESEARCH ARTICLE
Clinical Assessment of the Shoulder
Thomas D Donnelly*, Sridhar Ashwin, Robert J MacFarlane , Mohammed Waseem
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
Issue: Suppl 3
First Page: 310
Last Page: 315
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-7-310
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001307010310
Article History:
Received Date: 6/10/2012Revision Received Date: 1/12/2012
Acceptance Date: 29/12/2012
Electronic publication date: 6/9/2013
Collection year: 2013

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The shoulder joint is complex in structure and functionality. It is often difficult to assess clinically due to the great variety of associated pathology. This article presents an overview of the anatomy of the shoulder region and associated pathologies, whilst providing a summary of the clinical examination of the shoulder and associated ‘special tests’.
A full history is vital when assessing shoulder pathology. No particular test is fully sensitive or specific alone and accuracy varies between both clinicians and patients alike. Assessment of the shoulder should be conducted systematically with a range of tests combined.