SI Joint Testing

Uses

How it works

Comparisons

Evidence quality

Highlighted claims

• SI joint motion palpation tests show intra-rater reliability ranging from 0.36 to 0.84, a spread so wide it is clinically unworkable. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• The core liability of motion palpation tests is that clinicians tend to perceive what they expect to perceive, introducing systematic bias that degrades reliability in ways the clinician cannot detect. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• Ober's test with an inclinometer produces inter-rater reliability of 0.90–0.91, though this figure derives from a single study. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• Cadaveric evidence shows that Ober's test captures hip capsule and soft tissue mobility rather than SI joint function in isolation. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• The substantial soft tissue between the skin surface and the SI joint raises a fundamental question about whether motion palpation meaningfully contacts the joint at all. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• When a single clinician works longitudinally with the same patient, intra-rater reliability matters more than inter-rater reliability. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome
• A clinical test has value if it reliably tracks change and informs decisions toward the patient's goals, regardless of what structure it truly isolates. — Asymmetrical Infrasternal Angle, SI Joint Testing, and Imaginary Lat Syndrome