{"id":8827,"date":"2021-11-23T09:42:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T08:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/?post_type=wiki&#038;p=8827"},"modified":"2026-10-15T18:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T16:42:06","slug":"lift-off-sign","status":"publish","type":"wiki","link":"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/wiki\/lift-off-sign\/","title":{"rendered":"Lift Off Sign"},"featured_media":8828,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"class_list":["post-8827","wiki","type-wiki","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"free_access":"","app_link":"","sections":[{"acf_fc_layout":"page-header-detail-page","background":{"background_image":8828,"background_image_alt_text":"Lift Off Sign"},"heading":"Lift Off Sign | Subscapularis Tear Exam | Shoulder Assessment","subheading":"Shoulder Assessment","content_editor":"","button_type":"internal_link","button_label":"Check our shop","button_style":"button-five","button_internal_link":4646,"button_anchor":"","button_url":"","button_file":null,"label":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"submenu","links":[{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Learn","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-3","button_url":"","button_file":null},{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Free videos","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-5","button_url":"","button_file":null},{"button_type":"anchor","button_label":"Assessment E-Book","button_internal_link":null,"button_anchor":"section-number-6","button_url":"","button_file":null}],"dropdown_label":"Go to","button_right":{"button_type":"internal_link","button_label":"Try Premium free","button_style":"button-three","button_internal_link":26802,"button_anchor":"","button_url":"","button_file":""},"button_description":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content-content","section_options":{"vertical_alignment":"top","column_right_box":false,"column_left_width":"col-12 col-lg-4 offset"},"column_left":{"content_editor":"<h4>Learn<\/h4>"},"column_right":{"content_editor":"<h6>Lift Off Sign | Subscapularis Weakness | Subscapularis Tear Assessment<\/h2>\nThe Lift-Off Sign or Lift-Off Test is an orthopedic test to assess the muscle strength of the subscapularis muscle in case of a suspected full-thickness rupture of the subscapularis muscle-tendon complex. In the literature, different values are reported for its accuracy regarding subscapularis tendinopathy. A recent study by Jain et al. (2017) reports a sensitivity of 22% and a specificity of 94% in the detection of subscapularis tears. So while this test cannot rule out tears of the subscapularis, it seems to be moderately accurate to confirm them.\n<div class=\"embed-container\">\n\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AgkTH52_PBI[\/embed]\n\n<\/div>\nTo conduct the test have your patient standing with the dorsum of his hand against the mid lumbar spine. Then ask your patient to lift off the hand from the back and watch for abnormal motion of the scapula which could indicate scapular instability.\n\nIf the\u00a0patient is unable to do so, this indicates a\u00a0lesion of the subscapularis muscle and\/or tendon. If the patient\u00a0is able to lift off the hand from his back\u00a0you can give resistance to test for the muscle's strength.\n\nOther common orthopedic tests to assess the subscapularis are the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/wiki\/bear-hug-test\/\"> Bear Hug Test<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/wiki\/lateral-rotation-lag-sign\/\">Lateral Rotation Lag Sign<\/a>.\n\n"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"content-content","section_options":{"vertical_alignment":"top","column_right_box":false,"column_left_width":"col-12 col-lg-4 offset"},"column_left":{"content_editor":"<h4>References<\/h4>"},"column_right":{"content_editor":"<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27386812\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jain NB, Luz J, Higgins LD, Dong Y, Warner JJ, Matzkin E, Katz JN. The diagnostic accuracy of special tests for rotator cuff tear: the ROW cohort study. American journal of physical medicine &amp; rehabilitation. 2017 Mar;96(3):176.<\/a>"}},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta-form-v2","content_editor":"<h2>Want to understand <strong>shoulder pain<\/strong> better?<\/h2>\r\n<p>Get Filip Struyf's <strong>free<\/strong> 5-part video series that separates fact from fiction in rotator cuff related shoulder pain.<\/p>","form":"44","image":29338,"image_alt_text":"Free shoulder pain video series"},{"acf_fc_layout":"cta-image-v2","layout":"","background":"transparent","heading":"","content_editor":"<p class=\"subheading\">Like what you\u2019re learning?<\/p>\n<p class=\"heading-two\">Get the full Physiotutors <strong>Assessment Book<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n \t<li>600+ pages on orthopedic assessment<\/li>\n \t<li>Video demonstrations and direct links to the PubMed studies<\/li>\n \t<li>Statistical values for every special test, from the latest research<\/li>\n \t<li>Free lifetime updates<\/li>\n \t<li>Available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish<\/li>\n<\/ul>","button_type":"internal_link","button_label":"See the Assessment Book","button_style":"button-two","button_internal_link":4646,"button_anchor":"","button_url":"","button_file":null,"side_button":{"side_button_content_editor":""},"bottom_button":{"bottom_button_content_editor":""},"image":22705,"image_alt_text":""}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lift Off Sign | Subscapularis Tear Exam | Shoulder Assessment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Lift-Off sign or test is a common orthopedic test to assess for full-thickness ruptures of the subscapularis muscle-tendon unit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.physiotutors.com\/wiki\/lift-off-sign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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