Purpose:
To asses the strength of the Anterolateral Neck Flexors (SCM and scalene on one side).
Procedure:
- Patient is supine
- Patient abducts arm to 90°, flexes the elbows to 90°, and rest their dorsal hands on the table.
- Patient rotates the head away from the side being tested. Therapist stabilizes the side being tested.
- Patient lifts the head into slight flexion and hold it against gravity.
- Patient keeps the head lifted off the table (Grade 3).
- Therapist holds the temporal region on the side being tested.
- Therapist pushes in an oblique posterolateral direction, away from the tested side.
Positive Sign:
Weakness of the Anterolateral Neck Flexors if the patient is unable to keep the neck in flexion against gravity or the therapist’s pressure.
Bryson Ingram R.M.T. 