Research Article of the Week: The Devil is in the Details
Research Article of the Week
The Devil is in the Details
Most diagnoses are common. However, the devil is in the details. It’s the details in the physical examination and the details of the movement diagnosis that are important in tailoring the rehabilitation program. It’s also the details in the rehabilitation program that make all the difference.
One study by Timmons et al. (2016) investigated the scapular position and scapular muscle activation during the empty can and full can exercises. The purpose of this study was to characterize the scapular position and scapular muscle activation during the empty can and full can exercises. The empty can exercise has been shown to produce scapular kinematics associated with the mechanism leading to subacromial impingement syndrome.
The empty can exercise was associated with more pain and scapular positions that have been reported to decrease the subacromial space. Scapular muscle activity was generally higher with the empty can arm position. This study suggests that exercises with full can arm position is preferred over the empty can arm position with exercise.
The empty can exercises demonstrated less scapular posterior tilt by 2° and increase in upper trapezius activity by 4%. This is a small change that had a significant effect on decreasing the subacromial space and increasing pain. Small changes can be game changers!