Empty Can / Jobe Test | Supraspinatus

Execution:

  1. The patient is in standing position
  2. Patient elevates the arms to 90° in the scapular plane and fully internally rotates the shoulders (thumbs pointing downwards)
  3. The patient is asked to resist downward pressure applied by the examiner

 

Positive Outcome: Weakness and/or pain compared to the other side

Study

Reliability Sn Sp LR+

LR-

Boettcher et al. (2009a)

NA

NA NA NA

NA

Jain et a. (2017)

NA

88 62 2.3

0.19

Ackman et al. (2019)

NA

88.8 58.5 2.13

0.19

Sgroi et al. (2018)

NA

96 31 1.39

0.13

Lange et al. (2017)

Inter-rater ĸ=0.71

NA NA NA

NA

Johansson et al. (2009)

Intra-rater ĸ=1

NA NA NA

NA

van Kampen et al. (2014)

NA

68.4 56.6 1.57

0.56

Micheroli et al. (2015)

Inter-rater ĸ=0.36

Comment: Although this position does not selectively activate the supraspinatus in isolation according to Boettcher et al. (2009a), it seems to be a suitable test to exclude supraspinatus tears