Can testing of six individual muscles represent a screening approach to upper limb neuropathic conditions?

BMC Neurology

Table 1 Manual testing of three muscle antagonist pairs in 82 upper limbs

Muscle antagonist pair	Muscle	Nerve	Weakness		Relative agreement% [[6]]	Kappa-value (Confidence intervals) [[6]]	Exit position for muscle testing [[6]]
Muscle antagonist pair	Muscle	Nerve	Examiner 1	Examiner 2	Relative agreement% [[6]]	Kappa-value (Confidence intervals) [[6]]	Exit position for muscle testing [[6]]
I	Greater pectorals	Pectorals	16	21	84	0.55 (0.34-0.76)	90 degrees shoulder flexion. Upper extremities placed horizontally forward, forearms pronated (Figures 2 and 3)
I	Posterior deltoid	Axillary	48	50	80	0.59 (0.42-0.77)
II	Biceps brachii	Musculocutaneous	36	31	79	0.57 (0.40-0.75)	90 degrees elbow flexion. Upper arms placed vertically against the lateral chest and forearms horizontally. The supinator function of the biceps may additionally be tested (Figures 4 and 5)
II	Triceps	Radial	34	33	87	0.72 (0.57-0.88)
III	Radial flexor of wrist	Median	32	32	77	0.46 (0.25-0.66)	90 degrees elbow flexion. Forearms resting fully on thighs: For the testing of the radial flexor of wrist, forearms are supinated and fingers flexed. For the testing of the short radial extensor of wrist, forearms are pronated and fingers extended (Figures 6 and 7)
III	Short radial extensor of wrist	Radial	29	20	84	0.69 (0.53-0.85)

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