Shoulder Pain and Mobility Deficits: Adhesive Capsulitis : Clinical Practice Guidelines Linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health From the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association

The American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons have adopted a standardized form for assessment of the shoulder. The form has a patient self-evaluation section and a physician assessment section. The patient self-evaluation section of the form contains visual analog scales for pain and instability and an activities of daily living questionnaire. The activities of daily living questionnaire is marked on a four-point ordinal scale that can be converted to a cumulative activities of daily living index. The patient can complete the self-evaluation portion of the questionnaire in the absence of a physician. The physician assessment section includes an area to collect demographic information and assesses range of motion, specific physical signs, strength, and stability. A shoulder score can be derived from the visual analogue scale score for pain (50%) and the cumulative activities of daily living score (50%). It is hoped that adoption of this instrument to measure shoulder function will facilitate communication between investigators, stimulate multicenter studies, and encourage validity testing of this and other available instruments to measure shoulder function and outcome. Copyright © 1994 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form (ASES), patient self-report section. Patients with shoulder dysfunction (n = 63) completed the ASES, The University of Pennsylvania Shoulder Score, and the Short Form-36 during the initial evaluation, 24 to 72 hours after the initial visit, and after 3 to 4 weeks of physical therapy. The test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient[1-way random-effects], 0.84; 95% CI lower limit, 0.75) and internal consistency (Cronbach alpha, 0.86) values were acceptable. The standard error of the measure was 6.7 ASES points (90% CI, 11.0). Construct and discriminant validity was demonstrated. Responsiveness was demonstrated with a standardized response mean of 1.5 and an effect size of 1.4. The minimal detectable change was 9.7 ASES points (90% CI, 16), and the minimal clinically important difference was 6.4 ASES points. The results indicate that the ASES is a reliable, valid, and responsive outcome tool.