Reliability of a Novel Test for Teres Major Muscle Length

This study compared the inter- and intra-rater reliability of two methods for measuring the length of the teres major. The length of the teres major was measured using the active shoulder flexion test, with and without external rotation, and the teres major length test. Each examiner used both methods in a single session. Intra- and inter-rater reliability were assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC3,1). The independent t-test was used to compare the teres major lengths of the groups. The intra-rater reliability of the active shoulder flexion test and teres major length test was excellent (ICC3,1 = 0.84 and 0.96, respectively), as was the inter-rater reliability (ICC3,1 = 0.83 and 0.91, respectively). There was a significant difference in teres major length between the normal and shortened groups (150.30° and 134.86°, respectively; p<0.05). Our results suggest that the active shoulder flexion test and teres major length test can be reliably applied to determine the length of the teres major.