2011 年 11 巻 p. 139-146
We report the case of a female patient with an incomplete tear of the supraspinatus muscle. The patient complained of difficulty while performing overhead work because of pain when raising her arms to perform such work. She also experienced this pain in shoulder flexion; however, there was no excessive elevation of the scapular girdle during flexion. The patient underwent physical evaluation, including various stress tests (an impingement test, a speed test, Yergason's test, etc.), electromyography, and simple radiographic assessments. On the basis of her test results, we concluded that her shoulder pain was caused by dysfunction of the infraspinatus muscle, which depresses the humeral head, and by excessive upward rotation of the scapula during the early phase of flexion. The patient was administered physical therapy targeted at improving the combined movements of the rotator cuff muscles and scapula, following which her pain decreased.