Shoulder
Shoulder osteoarthritis
Shoulder osteoarthritis is tracked before and after arthroplasty with shoulder-specific patient-reported outcome measures, supported by a radiographic grade for structural severity.
What you are actually deciding
Pre-operative scores are typically very low and improve substantially, so ceiling effects matter more after surgery than before. The Simple Shoulder Test ceilings early post-arthroplasty; the Constant score continues to discriminate.
Patient-reported outcome measure4
- ASES Score11 itemsAmerican Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Standardized Shoulder Assessment Form — patient self-report sectionThe ASES score is a patient-reported shoulder index running from 0 to 100 in which a single 0–10 pain rating supplies 50 points and ten activities of daily living rated 0–3 supply the other 50, so that 100 represents a pain-free shoulder with no functional difficulty.
- Oxford Shoulder Score12 itemsOxford Shoulder ScoreThe Oxford Shoulder Score is a 12-item patient-reported questionnaire about shoulder pain and everyday function over the past four weeks, each item scored 0 to 4 and summed to a total of 0 to 48 in which 48 represents the best possible shoulder — it is licensed by Oxford University Innovation, so the item wording is not reproduced here.
- SPADI Calculator13 itemsShoulder Pain and Disability IndexThe SPADI is a 13-item patient-reported questionnaire that measures shoulder pain and disability over the past week on two subscales — 5 pain items and 8 disability items — each rated 0–10 and transformed to a 0–100% score in which a higher score means more pain and greater disability.
- SST Calculator12 itemsSimple Shoulder TestThe Simple Shoulder Test asks twelve yes-or-no questions about everyday shoulder functions and scores the number answered yes, giving a total from 0 to 12 where 12 means all twelve functions are retained.
Clinical calculator2
- Constant Score Calculator10 itemsConstant-Murley Shoulder ScoreThe Constant-Murley score is a 100-point clinician-administered shoulder assessment combining 35 subjective points for pain and daily activities with 65 objective points for measured range of motion and abduction strength, where 100 represents a normal, pain-free shoulder.
- UCLA Shoulder Score Calculator5 itemsUniversity of California at Los Angeles Shoulder Rating ScaleThe UCLA Shoulder Rating Scale is a 35-point shoulder assessment scoring pain and function out of 10 each, active forward flexion and forward-flexion strength out of 5 each, and patient satisfaction as either 0 or 5, where a higher total is better and 34–35 is graded excellent.
Thresholds that apply here
Published change thresholds across the instruments above. Check the population matches your patient before using a value — a threshold derived in a different cohort will mislead you.
| Instrument | Type | Value | Subscale | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASES Score | MCID | 6.4 points | — | Patients with shoulder pain of mixed cause receiving outpatient physical therapy |
| ASES Score | MCID | 12.0 to 17.0 points | — | Rotator cuff disease treated nonoperatively |
| Constant Score | MCID | 10.4 points | — | Patients undergoing rotator cuff surgery |
| SPADI | MCID | 8–13.2 points | — | Mixed shoulder pathology in orthopaedic and physiotherapy outpatients |
| SPADI | MDC | Approximately 18 points (90% confidence) | — | Patients with shoulder pain, stable between assessments |
| SPADI | MCID | 13.2 points | — | Shoulder pain managed in primary care and physiotherapy |
| SST | MCID | 2 points | — | Rotator cuff disease and shoulder arthroplasty |
| SST | MCID | 2.05 points | — | Total shoulder arthroplasty |
| SST | SCB | 4.1 points | — | Total shoulder arthroplasty |
| SST | MDC | 2.8 points | — | Rotator cuff disease |
See the full threshold database for every instrument on the site.