Clinical test · Shoulders

Empty Can test

A shoulder test that tries to single out the supraspinatus — the small rotator-cuff muscle running across the top of the shoulder blade that helps start lifting the arm. Turning the arm thumb-down, as if emptying a can, puts that muscle at a mechanical disadvantage, so pain or give-way weakness when the examiner presses down points toward the cuff rather than the larger muscles around it.