The Reliability and Concurrent Validity of Goniometric, Visual Estimation, and the Patient Specific Functional Scale in Participants with Unilateral Shoulder Pain Raw Data Collection

<b>Abstract:</b><b>Background:</b> The Constant-Murley Score (CMS), which uses universal goniometry (UG), and the Shoulder Functional Reach Score (SFRS), which uses visual estimation (VE), are described in the literature. The CMS has validity challenges, and the SFRS has been critiqued for using VE. Establishing if VE is a reliable and valid objective measurement as part of the SFRS becomes essential in establishing the validity of this tool.<b>Purpose:</b> The study sought to determine the reliability and concurrent validity of VE when compared to the UG for shoulder flexion (FLX) and abduction (ABD) as used in the SFRS. This study determined if there were differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic shoulders and between expert and novice raters when using these tools.<b>Methods</b><b>: </b>Participants were included if they were at least 18 years old with unilateral, symptomatic shoulder pain, with no post-surgical contraindications. Participants were excluded if symptoms were less than 2/10, bilateral, consistent with cervical or neurological pathology, had a needle injection in the past month, or were currently receiving therapy for shoulder pain.<b>Results</b><b>: </b>The intertester reliability between UG and VE were the following: UG Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) values were 0.76 for FLX and 0.91 for ABD for visit one. VE of ICC values ranged from 0.92 for FLX and 0.87 for ABD at visit one. VE test-retest reliability had ICC values from 0.86 to 0.94 for FLX and 0.83 to 0.81 for ABD. Concurrent validity between raters one and two had rho values from 0.86 to 0.84 for FLX and 0.86 to 0.89 for ABD at visit one.<b>Discussion: </b>Study results suggest that both UG and VE of active shoulder FLX and ABD are reliable and concurrently valid. To determine external validity, future research should determine if these findings translate to the SFRS and a more diverse participant population.<b>Keywords:</b> Psychometrics, Range of Motion, Articular, Reproducibility of Results, Shoulder