Ultrasonographic Analysis of Post-Traumatic Shoulder Lesions After Hand Trauma

Diagnostic shoulder ultrasonography

For shoulder ultrasonography, the specialist physician and the patient will sit opposite each other. The examination will be performed using high-resolution linear probes. Standard ultrasonography technique and diagnosis will be used, and real-time ultrasonography will be performed with an ultrasound device with a 6-11 MHz linear wide-band probe (Nemio XH, Toshiba, Japan). In shoulder ultrasonography, the long head of the biceps brachialis muscle, supraspinatus tendon and subacromial bursa will be examined. Fluid increase or edema in the subacromial bursa will be evaluated to determine whether there is subacromial bursitis. In case of suspected supraspinatus tendon rupture, the contour integrity, echogenicity and thickness of the tendon will be carefully examined; in addition, it will be determined whether there is a partial or complete tear on the tendon.

Visual analog scale (VAS) scores

VAS is used to convert some values that cannot be measured quantitatively into numerical values. In VAS, where pain intensity is evaluated, pain intensity is graded between 0 and 10 points. "No pain" is graded as 0 points and "very severe pain" is graded as 10 points. Pain intensity of "less than 3 points" is indicated as mild pain, "between 3-6 points" as moderate pain, and "more than 6 points" as severe pain. Visual pain scoring will be done separately for both the hand and shoulder regions.

Joint range of motion

Joint range of motion is known as ROM and refers to the measurement of the amount of movement around a specific joint. Joint range of motion will be measured with the help of a tool called a goniometer. Joint range of motion will be measured and recorded in both the hand joint and shoulder joint.

Handgrip Strength Test

Grip strength is a measure of muscle strength or the maximum force/tension produced by a person's forearm muscles. It can be used as a screening tool for measuring upper body strength and general strength. Grip strength will be assessed with a Jamar dynamometer and the values obtained will be recorded.

The Shoulder Pain and Disability Index

The Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) is a 13-item questionnaire divided into pain and activity limitation categories. It focuses on the degree of pain or disability caused by shoulder problems in the past week. The patient answers the questions himself/herself using a VAS or NRS scale. The higher a patient scores on the SPADI, the greater the pain/limitation in activities. The score for each subscale is obtained by adding all individual scores for the subscale and dividing the result by the maximum score for the subscale. The normalized score is converted to a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 indicating severe problems and 0 indicating no problems.