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The shoulder is one of the human body's most complex joint systems, with motion occurring through the coordinated actions of four individual joints, multiple ligaments, and approximately 20 muscles. The shoulder also has the greatest range of motion of the body's major joints and is often described as a compromise between mobility and stability. Unfortunately, shoulder pathologies are common, resulting in substantial pain, disability, and decreased quality of life. For example, rotator cuff tears affect about 40% of the population over age 601,2,3, with approximately 250,000 rotator cuff repairs performed annually4, and an estimated economic burden of $3-5 billion per year in the United States5. Additionally, shoulder dislocations are common and are often associated with chronic dysfunction6. Lastly, glenohumeral joint osteoarthritis (OA) is another significant clinical problem involving the shoulder, with population studies indicating that roughly 15%-20% of adults over the age of 65 have radiographic evidence of glenohumeral OA7,8. These conditions are painful, impair activity levels, and decrease quality of life.
Although the pathogeneses of these conditions are not fully understood, it is generally accepted that altered shoulder motion is associated with many shoulder pathologies9,10,11. Specifically, abnormal joint motion may contribute to the pathology9,12, or that the pathology may lead to abnormal joint motion13,14. Relationships between joint motion and pathology are likely complex, and subtle alterations in joint motion may be important in the shoulder. For example, although angular motion is the predominant motion occurring at the glenohumeral joint, joint translations also occur during shoulder motion. Under normal conditions these translations likely do not exceed several millimeters15,16,17,18,19, and therefore may be below the level of in-vivo accuracy for some measurement techniques. While it may be tempting to assume that small deviations in joint motion may have little clinical impact, it is important to also recognize that the cumulative effect of subtle deviations over years of shoulder activity may exceed the individual's threshold for tissue healing and repair. Furthermore, in-vivo forces at the glenohumeral joint are not inconsequential. Using custom instrumented glenohumeral joint implants, previous studies have shown that raising a 2 kg weight to head height with an outstretched arm can result in glenohumeral joint forces that can range from 70% to 238% of body weight20,21,22. Consequently, the combination of subtle changes in joint motion and high forces concentrated over the glenoid's small load-bearing surface area may contribute to the development of degenerative shoulder pathologies.
Historically, the measurement of shoulder motion has been accomplished through a variety of experimental approaches. These approaches have included the use of complex cadaveric testing systems designed to simulate shoulder motion23,24,25,26,27, video-based motion capture systems with surface markers28,29,31, surface-mounted electromagnetic sensors32,33,34,35, bone pins with reflective markers or other sensors attached36,37,38, static two-dimensional medical imaging (i.e., fluoroscopy39,40,41 and radiographs17,42,43,44,45), static three-dimensional (3D) medical imaging using MRI46,47, computed tomography48, and dynamic, 3D single plane fluoroscopic imaging49,50,51. More recently, wearable sensors (e.g., inertial measurement units) have gained popularity for measuring shoulder motion outside the laboratory setting and in free-living conditions52,53,54,55,56,57.
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of biplane radiographic or fluoroscopic systems designed to accurately measure dynamic, 3D in-vivo motions of the shoulder58,59,60,61,62. The purpose of this article is to describe the authors' approach for measuring shoulder motion using a custom biplanar videoradiography system. The specific objectives of this article are to describe the protocols to acquire biplanar videoradiographic images of the shoulder complex, acquire CT scans, develop 3D bone models, locate anatomical landmarks, track the position and orientation of the humerus, scapula, and torso from the biplanar radiographic images, and calculate kinematic outcome measures.