Patient Positioning
Patient seated on a revolving stool, arm in slight internal rotation. Elbow flexed (90°), palm up (hand can be placed on the thigh).
Probe Positioning
The posterior glenohumeral joint is found by placing the transducer medially from the humeral head on a horizontal plane (long axis of infraspinatus tendon). Check the posterior labrum capsular complex (effusion? calcifications? lesion?) and the infraspinatus and teres minor tendons during external and internal rotation.
Note: Check the muscle belly for fatty atrophy (increased echogenicity in comparison to the deltoid muscle, visibility of muscle contour, pennate pattern – the architecture of the muscle fibers in relationship to the central tendon).
Increase the depth to visualize the spinoglenoid notch (paralabral cysts – mostly associated with labral lesions).