POSTERIOR IMPINGEMENT TEST

​​• ​Test positioning

The client lies supine on a table with the test shoulder placed in 90 - 110 degrees of abduction and 10 - 15 degrees of extension.

The test elbow is flexed to 90-degrees.

The therapist stands with the distal hand grasping the client's wrist and hand and the proximal hand grasping the client's elbow.

​• ​Action

The therapist slowly rotates the client's shoulder into maximal external rotation.

​• ​Positive finding

Reproduction of the client's pain in the posterior aspect of the shoulder is indicative of rotator cuff and/or posterior labral pathology.

​• ​Special considerations & comments

​This test should not be confused with the Apprehension Test or Relocation Test.

The Posterior Impingement Test will reproduce posterior shoulder pain, while the Apprehension and Relocation Tests will reproduce anterior shoulder pain and apprehension.

Clinically the Posterior Impingement Test will often correlate highly with the patientive complaints of posterior/superior shoulder pain during the late cocking to acceleration phase of throwing or swinging in the overhead athlete.