Total shoulder and relative muscle strength in the scapular plane

Abstract

Strength profiles of the shoulder joint are measured experimentally for two arm positions in “the scapular plane” in order to present quantitative data on the shoulder strength. Apart from yielding the actual force a subject can exert in various directions, these measurements also exhibit e.g. the strongest and weakest directions, in fact the relative strength in all directions. The inter-individual variation of the direction of maximal force was at most 14° (sd). The experimental profiles are compared with the corresponding theoretical profiles, obtained by using a shoulder model. The calculations were made both with default muscle parameters and individually adapted parameters. The results show that the employed shoulder model, which is based on data from an elderly population, may be adapted to other populations and that the necessary changes in relative muscle strength are those expected on biomechanical grounds. Without model changes the difference between measured (in the mean) and predicted maximal force directions was at most 50°. Muscle parameter adjustment reduced this difference to 23°. The strength profiles clearly indicate in what direction a person can produce larger forces and which muscles that contribute.