Painful Arc Test

Authors

Affiliations

Nate Yomogida, B.S., SPT

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.S. in Kinesiology

Chloë Kerstein, B.S., SPT

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.A. in Neuroscience

“Painful Arc Test. The patient stands and, while being observed by the clinician, is asked to actively abduct the involved shoulder. A positive test for subacromial impingement is indicated if the patient reports shoulder pain in the 60–120-degree range. Pain outside this range is considered a negative test, and pain that increases in severity as the arm reaches 180 degrees is indicative of “a disorder of the A-C joint.” The painful arc test has a specificity of 80%.127 However, although this test is good at detecting subacromial impingement, a positive finding is unlikely to aid the clinician in determining a specific diagnosis as there are a number of conditions that can be provoked with arm elevation (Table 16-25)”¹

References

1.

Dutton M. Dutton’s Orthopaedic Examination, Evaluation, and Intervention. 5th ed. McGraw Hill Education; 2020.