For the Hruska Adduction Lift Test, one thing I want to ask about is the patient to therapist size ratio. I’m a tall guy, when I perform this test I really try to keep the upper leg at a “reasonable” height for the patient’s body. It also seems that the passive hip abduction test will highly correlate. Can you comment on this?
I have frequently been asked this question in classes across the country. In short, the height of the examiner is not a significant issue up to a point. There appears to be range of tolerance with regard to ability to perform the test and the height of the examiner. Normal abduction is in the order of 45 degrees. If the examiners’ height takes the LE well-beyond 45 degrees then height might become an issue. I am 6’1” and have yet to discover anyone that I felt was adversely affected by my height. However if I were Shaquille Oneal and my patient was less than 5 feet then height could become an issue.
At that point I still have some options:
1. call in another examiner
2. place the top most lower extremity on the wall (which I hate to do since I
like to feel what the top LE is doing)
3. use the Abduction Lift Test since there is a good correlation between the
two
4. all of the above!
The test is helping us understand how well the patient can recruit and inhibit multiple muscles so we want to be sure that we score accurately. In fact, another name for the test could be the: “How Well Do You Shift Into Acetabular Femoral Internal Rotation And Recruit And Inhibit Muscle Test” but it’s kind of long and that acronym HWDYSIAFIRARAIT just doesn’t flow.
– Mike Cantrell
