Passive Compression Test | SLAP Lesions | Shoulder Assessment

Kim et al. (2007) came up with the Passive Compression Test and evaluated its accuracy. They found a sensitivity of 82% and a specificity of 86%, which renders it a good test to confirm and exclude SLAP tears. However, no further study has yet validated these findings, which is why we give this test a moderate clinical value.

In order to perform the Passive Compression Test have your patient in side-lying position on the unaffected shoulder, while the examiner is standing behind the patient. Stabilize the patient’s shoulder with one hand by holding the patient’s AC joint, while your other hand controls the patient’s elbow. Then the examiner rotates the patient’s arm externally with 30 degrees of abduction and then pushes the arm proximally while extending the shoulder, which results in the passive compression of the superior labrum onto the glenoid. In this position, it can be helpful to have your patient facing a mirror in order to gauge his reaction. The test is positive if pain or a painful click is elicited in the glenohumeral joint.

21 OF THE MOST USEFUL ORTHOPAEDIC TESTS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

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Other orthopedic tests to assess biceps pathology & SLAP lesions are:

• Active Compression Test of O’Brien
• Yergason’s Test
• Biceps Load I Test
• Biceps Load II Test
• 3-Pack Examination
• Crank Test
• Compression Rotation Test
• Passive Distraction Test
• Dynamic Labral Shear Test
• Upper Cut Test
• Supine Flexion Resistance Test
• Anterior Slide Test
• Speeds Test
• Labral Tension Test
• Resisted Supine External Rotation Test

Kim, Y. S., Kim, J. M., Ha, K. Y., Choy, S., Joo, M. W., & Chung, Y. G. (2007). The passive compression test: a new clinical test for superior labral tears of the shoulder. The American journal of sports medicine, 35(9), 1489-1494.