Hip And Shoulder Goniometry Essay, Research Paper
Hip and Shoulder Goniometry
By
Jimmy Cooney
The tension and arrangement of the muscles around the hip and shoulder gives the stability
needed to hold the bones together and provide the flexibility that allows movement to occur. The
hip has a deep socket with strong surrounding ligaments and muscles, while the shoulder has
shallow sockets with fewer ligaments and weaker muscles. If the muscles and ligaments are
weak from misuse, the stability of the joint is reduced thus effecting their ability to function
adequately. Range of motion (ROM) is related to joint stability, often determined by the laxity of
the surrounding ligaments and muscles. “The arrangement and relative laxity and or extensibility
of tendons, ligaments and muscles are some of the factors of ROM.” (Susan J. Hall) One of the
instruments to measure ROM is the goniometer. Goniometer is used to determine the joint
position relative to a set point and the total amount of motion available at a joint. The
measurements are obtained by placing the goniometer along the proximal and distal bones
adjacent to the joint being measured. The following study is comparing the hip and shoulder of
both genders.
Methods:
This study involved forty-five college men and women of varying ages, ethnic groups, and
athletic background. All the subjects were paired up with a partner and did the measurements
themselves during their allotted lab times. The following were the joints angles that were
measured using the goniometer: shoulder abduction, shoulder hyperextension, shoulder flexion,
shoulder lateral rotation, shoulder medial rotation, hip abduction, hip hyperextension, hip
flexion, hip lateral rotation, hip medial rotation. In the measurements that was recorded, human
error and past injuries would influence the data. This is why .002 (alpha number) is going to be
calculated in with the data. Dependent t-test, independent t-test, mean and standard deviation are
the following statistical analysis that is used in the following study.
Results:
First Study
In studying the first graph it is obvious that the hip and shoulder function in
radically different ways. This can be noted in the total lack of similarities in the measurements.
Second Study
When comparing the data, the differences in the range of motion between the hip and shoulder
became very apparent. This can be attributed to the differences in layout of the joints. The
shoulder is shown to be more flexible by a significant amount in almost every measurement due
to it shallow socket and fewer ligaments. The difference in the range of motion due to functional
differences is apparent in the similar graphs between males and females and is not the product of
physiologic differences between genders. See Graphs Two and Three.
Third Study
Refer to Graph 4 for the comparison of the male and female in the shoulder. The females showed
a little more laxity in the shoulders than the males, but the males were above average by a
significant amount in the shoulder flexion.
Fifth Graph
This chart proves that because of the deep socket and the strong surrounding ligaments and
muscles in the hip it is a design limitation rather than a gender bias that reduces flexibility.
Discussion:
The study supports the fact that because our hips helps supports and balance the rest of our body,
it has to have stronger ligaments and muscles that surround the joint to give it the necessary
support to hold us up. This is substantiated by a T-Test result of .0001606 in the comparison of
hip flexion to shoulder flexion in men and a result of 1.718E-05 in women. And because it gives
us the necessary support to allow us to do the simple task of walking, it gives up a little laxity as
compare to the shoulder, which has a greater range of motion. Two-thirds of the class were
unable to get to the reference point of the measurements for both, hip and shoulder. This could
be from lack of exercising and stretching, or age. Only four of the measurements proved to be
significant out of the twenty-five T-tests taken. “Factors that influence joint mobility would be
intervening muscles, the arrangement of muscles and ligaments, the shape of the articulating
surfaces and the relatively laxity of the muscles and ligaments.”(Susan J. Hall) The tasks that the
shoulders perform require greater range of motion as compared to the hip, which is limited to the
simple task of locomotion. These results are substantiated by the measurements that were
acquired in this study.
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