Shoulder Shrug Sign | Shoulder OA Exam | Frozen Shoulder Assessment

The Shoulder Shrug Sign is an orthopedic test to diagnose Frozen Shoulder as well as osteoarthritis in the shoulder joint.

Jia et al. (2008) found to have a sensitivity 91% with a specificity of 57% in the diagnosis of osteoarthritis in the shoulder and a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 50% in the diagnosis of Frozen Shoulder. This means that this test is useful to rule out those two conditions and has a moderate clinical value in our opinion.

To assess for the sign ask your patient to flex his elbows to 90° and to abduct both arms to 90° in the plane of the body and to hold that position briefly.

This sign is considere positive if the patient has to elevate the whole scapula or shoulder girdle – which means he has to shrug the shoulders – to achieve the 90° of shoulder abduction.

21 OF THE MOST USEFUL ORTHOPAEDIC TESTS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

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A test to distinguish between Frozen Shoulder and Pseudo Frozen Shoulder is the Coracoid Pain Test. However, the official diagnosis of Frozen Shoulder is done by certain criteria on passive range of motion restriction.

Jia, X., Ji, J. H., Petersen, S. A., Keefer, J., & McFarland, E. G. (2008). Clinical evaluation of the shoulder shrug sign. Clinical orthopaedics and related research, 466(11), 2813-2819.