Dr. Ebraheim’s educational animated video describes the clinical examination tests associate with injury to the shoulder joint.
Anterior shoulder dislocation
The patient will be unable to touch the opposite shoulder.
Anterior load & shift test
•Patient is sitting upright
•The examiner grasps the proximal part of the humerus and applies anterior and posterior stresses to assess the anterior stability of the joint.
•A positive assessment with show anterior instability of the glenohumeral joint.
Anterior apprehension & relocation test
•Patient can be either sitting or lying supine with the arm abducted and externally rotated.
•The examiner will externally rotate the shoulder of the patient in order to elicit a response of apprehension.
•Eliciting pain and sensation of impeding dislocation indicates anterior instability. The relocation sign is positive if the shoulder pain is relieved when the examiner applies direct posterior pressure over the proximal humerus.
Posterior shoulder dislocation
Patient will have loss of shoulder external rotation.
Posterior load & shift test
•Patient is sitting upright.
•The examiner grasps the proximal part of the humerus and applies anterior and posterior stresses to assess the joint stability.
•A positive assessment will show posterior instability of the glenohumeral joint.
Jerk tests: instability of the glenohumeral joint & posterior labrum
•The patient’s arm is abducated to 90 degrees and internally rotated.
•The examiner axially loads the humerus while the arm is moved horizontally across the body.
•A positive test is indicated by sharp pain in the shoulder with or without a clicking sound.
Posterior apprehension test
•The posterior apprehension test is very similar to the jerk test.
•Patient should be supine on the table with the involved shoulder abdcucted and anteriorly flexed at 90. The elbow is also flexed a 90.
•The examiner will stand at the involved side with one hand stabilizing the scapula and applying axial pressure with the other hand at the elbow.
•If the patient expresses an apprehensive response such as pain or sense of impending dislocation, this indicates posterior instability of the shoulder.
Multidirectional instability
Sulcus test
•Patient is standing or sitting upright.
•The examiner will grasp the patients humerus at the elbow and applies downward traction.
•A sulcus will appear at the acromiohumeral iinterval indicating inferior subluxation of the shoulder.

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