Seated Wall Angel Test

The test was performed with the patient seated on the floor with knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and the lumbar spine and head in contact with the wall (Figure 2). From this position, the patient was instructed to elevate elbows to shoulder height, and externally rotate the shoulders as much as possible. The patient held the position for scoring, which differs from the SWA as an intervention during which the arms are elevated overhead while maintaining contact with the wall. Scoring was based upon the number of contact points with the wall (elbow and fingertips, posterior fingers, posterior forearm). 0: < 2 points of contact, 1: elbow and fingertip contact, 2: elbow and posterior finger contact, 3: elbow, posterior forearm, and posterior hand contact. The injured and uninjured sides were scored separately.

Reliability of the SWA test was assessed during the study with a sample of convenience. Inter-rater reliability of the scoring method was assessed for the right and left sides of two patient study participants and 10 uninjured controls. One rater performed scoring in real-time, and one rater performed scoring from video. Intraclass correlation coefficients [95% confidence interval] were 0.894 [0.681, 0.968] for the right side and 0.867 [0.618, 0.959] for the left side. Additionally, intra-rater reliability of scoring was assessed for the right and left sides of 11 study participants and 11 uninjured controls. Scoring was completed from video on two occasions, 10 days apart. Intraclass correlation coefficients [95% confidence interval] were 0.891 [0.758, 0.953] for the right side and 0.891 [0.751, 0.954] for the left side.