Biceps Brachii Length Test

The biceps is a tonic muscle that has a natural tendency to tighten and its functions are flexion, abduction, and internal rotation at the shoulder joint and flexion and supination (when the elbow is flexed) at the elbow joint.

To test for your patient´s biceps length, have your patient in supine lying position with the shoulder extended, the elbow flexed and the forearm supinated.
Then extend the elbow.

With a normal length of the biceps, you should be able to fully extend the elbow and get a bone-to-bone end feel.
The test is positive if you are not able to extend the elbow fully and if your patient experiences a muscular tissue stretch.

If you are interested in muscle length assessment of other muscles in the shoulder region, check out our wiki posts below:

• Pectoralis Major Length Test
• Pectoralis Minor Length Test
• Triceps Brachii Length Test

Magee DJ. Orthopedic physical assessment-E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences; 2014 Mar 25.