Abstract

Background Lateral scapular slide test (LSST) quantitatively measures the distance between thoracic spine (T7) and inferior angle of scapula.

Objective In this study, the intra-rater reliability, inter-rater reliability and diagnostic accuracy of LSST were measured using a caliper.

Methods Three measurements of each test position were obtained bilaterally. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (2.1), 95% CI and 2 SEMs were calculated for intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the absolute scapular distance. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios were determined.

Results 27 people with and 30 people without shoulder pain participated. The mean age (SD) for the participant was 47.7 (11.6) years and 33.5 (11.7) years, respectively. The ICCs for intra-rater reliability were high. A range of poor to good ICCs was found for inter-rater reliability. The 2 SEMs ranged from 4.6 to 7.9 mm for intra-rater reliability and from 6.8 to 13.4 mm for inter-rater reliability for people with shoulder pain. Positive and negative likelihood ratios from 0.94 to 1.22 and from 0.21 to 2.5, respectively, were demonstrated.

Conclusion SST did not show a consistent high reliability. The diagnostic accuracy of the LSST was low, which questions the clinical importance of the tests outcomes.