The Jobe test is a physical diagnostic test for possible shoulder injuries. The patient’s arm is extended and rotated until discomfort is felt, and pressure is applied to the shoulder to compare results. It can accurately indicate a problem and is often followed by other tests for a clearer diagnosis.
Jobe’s test is one of several physical diagnostic tests used to examine a patient with a possible shoulder injury. The test is easy to perform and requires only the experience of the doctor and the reporting of pain or discomfort by the patient. Although the test results are not measured by scientific instruments, it can still accurately indicate if there is a problem. Once a possible problem has been identified through the Jobe test, a patient may perform other tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to give the doctor a clearer understanding of the underlying cause of the shoulder pain.
A doctor performs the Jobe test while the patient is fully conscious. The patient is asked to lie down on an examination table and the arm that has a possible shoulder injury is extended out of the patient’s body. The elbow is then bent at a 90 degree angle with the patient’s thumb pointing towards the patient’s body and the fingers towards the patient’s feet. The forearm is then rotated towards the patient’s head.
Rotation in the Jobe test ends when a patient indicates increasing shoulder discomfort. At this point, the clinician will record information about the angle of the patient’s arm at the most posterior angle where the patient was comfortable rotating it. The arm is then returned to a neutral state, resting next to the patient.
After this preliminary part of the Jobe test, the doctor presses against the patient’s shoulder and repeats the rotational motion. Doctors stop rotating the shoulder when the patient feels pain or discomfort or fears that the movement might cause pain. Again, the shoulder angle is noted when the patient stops testing.
In order to determine if there is a possible shoulder injury through the use of Jobe’s test, the doctor compares the results of the first rotation with the rotation that also included pressure on the shoulder. Patients with rotator cuff tears often exhibit a more limited range of motion when pressure is applied to the shoulder. This test is especially useful when trying to diagnose a tear in the anterior portion of the rotator cuff, a part of the shoulder that may not show signs of injury when subjected to other tests. Patients with a positive Jobe test result are often examined further through the use of other diagnostic tools to determine the extent of the lesion.
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