A device for characterizing humeral orientation

In cases of shoulder laxity or instability, physicians assess patients´ humeral mobility by estimating the ranges of abduction and rotation over which the patient is pain-free. The present approach is quite subjective and shows poor intra- and inter-physician reliability. This paper describes a device we developed to accurately measure humeral orientation. The device does this by utilizing minimum constraint design to impose a consistent and repeatable axis of rotation on the shoulder joint which ensures that data from different patients assessed by different physicians can be reliably compared