Abduction and external rotation in shoulder impingement: an open MR study on healthy volunteers initial experience.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate rotator cuff contact with the glenoid in healthy volunteers placed in the unloaded and loaded abduction and external rotation (ABER) positions in an open magnetic resonance (MR) imager.

Materials And Methods: The study was institutional review board approved and HIPAA compliant, and informed consent was received. Eight male volunteers with no history of shoulder pain or pathology were imaged in a 0.

In vivo anatomy of the Neer and Hawkins sign positions for shoulder impingement.

The Neer and Hawkins impingement signs are commonly used to diagnose subacromial pathology, but the anatomy of these maneuvers has not been well elucidated in vivo. This 3-dimensional open magnetic resonance imaging study characterized shoulder anatomy and rotator cuff impingement in 8 normal volunteers placed in the Neer and Hawkins positions. Subacromial and intraarticular contact of the rotator cuff was graded, and minimum distances were computed between the tendon insertion sites and the glenoid, acromion, and coracoid.