Provocative manual tests are often used in physiotherapy assessment, but their measurement properties are questionable. The aim of this paper was to present the measurement properties of provocative manual tests for determining shoulder impingement syndrome and associated dysfunction. Methods: PubMED, PEDro, and The Cochrane Library databases were reviewed. Results: Nineteen studies were analysed. The sensitivity and specificity for impingement syndrome (Jobe, Hawkins-Kennedy, Neer test) ranged from 58 % to 92 % and from 26 % to 89 %, respectively. The values of positive likelihood ratios ranged from 1.0 to 1.68 and for negative from 0.37 to 0.68. Instability tests had sensitivity from 61 % to 81 % and specificity from 45.0 % to 95.4 %; these tests had the best positive likelihood ratios (from 1.15 to 17.21). For the pathology of the long head tendon of the biceps brachii (Speed test, O'Brien test, biceps load test II) sensitivity ranged from 10 % to 98 % and specificity from 37 % to 100 %; positive and negative likelihood ratios were from 0.90 to 30 and from 0.10 to 1.19, respectively. Conclusions: Based on the analysed measurement properties of the tests, we propose an algorithm for clinical use.
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