Test library › Shoulder & upper arm
Lateral Jobe test
For: Rotator cuff tear
Website-only test: not part of the book.
A tear in one or more of the rotator cuff tendons around the shoulder, most often the supraspinatus across the top of the shoulder. Tears can be partial or full-thickness.
Treat with caution (see below)Sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratios calculated from the paper's counts (83 true positives, 19 false negatives, 65 true negatives, 8 false positives). The paper gives 19 false negatives in its table and 18 in its text; the table is used.
Caution: Single study by the surgeons who first published the test, in surgical patients of whom 58% had a tear.
How it is done
Both shoulders are abducted to 90° in the side (coronal) plane and internally rotated, with the elbows bent to 90° so the fingers point to the floor and the thumbs point inward. The examiner pushes down on the distal arms. Positive: pain or weakness when resisting the downward force, or inability to get into the test position.
What the studies found
Rotator cuff tear (mostly supraspinatus tears, partial or full-thickness). Gillooly et al. 2010 examined 175 consecutive patients before shoulder arthroscopy; 102 (58%) had a cuff tear. Two surgeons blinded to the diagnosis examined each patient, and their results were combined by consensus. Sensitivity 81% (95% CI 72–88%), specificity 89% (95% CI 79–95%). Of the 8 false positives, 5 were calcific tendinopathy and 1 a frozen shoulder. All the false negatives were in patients with symptoms for more than 2 years. Single study by the surgeons who first published the test, in a surgical population with a high rate of tears. It differs from the empty can (Jobe's) test by being done in the side plane.
What the numbers mean
- Positive result: see the caution above before relying on this result.
- Negative result: a small shift: a negative result nudges the diagnosis down, but does not exclude it.
The ladder: what a result does to your estimate
| If you thought | After a positive | After a negative |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 45% | 2% |
| 30% | 76% | 8% |
| 50% | 88% | 17% |
Calculated from the likelihood ratios above. Read the caution above before relying on these. For any other starting estimate, use the probability calculator.
Work out what a result means for your patient: probability calculator
Source
Gillooly JJ, Chidambaram R, Mok D. The lateral Jobe test: a more reliable method of diagnosing rotator cuff tears. Int J Shoulder Surg. 2010;4(2):41–43. Journal article (DOI) · single study
Website-only test: added to the library on 9 October 2026 and not part of Rule It In, Rule It Out. Figures independently checked against the sources cited above; any note above says where only the abstract could be checked. If a newer or better study changes them, this page will be updated.
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This test is in the website library only; it is not one of the tests in Rule It In, Rule It Out. The book covers the tests in its ‘The shoulder’ chapter: how to do each one, what counts as positive, and how to read the result.
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