INTRODUCTION: The Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) is a validated scoring system used to assess the degree of pain and disability caused by shoulder pathology. To date there is no knowledge of the range of the OSS in the healthy adult population. This study aimed to establish the range in asymptomatic individuals. METHODS: The OSS of 100 asymptomatic volunteers was compared with the pre-operative OSS of 100 symptomatic individuals who had had elective shoulder surgery performed at the Royal Preston hospital. RESULTS: The difference in mean scores in the operated group (36.7) and the asymptomatic group (15.3) was statistically significant (p<0.0001). There was, however, a substantial overlap between the scores of the two groups (operated group range: 19-55, asymptomatic group range: 12-47). Factors such as age, sex, body mass index, co-morbidities and smoking did not have a statistically significant impact on the eventual score in the asymptomatic group. CONCLUSIONS: This study has established the range of OSS in the asymptomatic adult population. Symptom scores can only be used effectively when the range in the asymptomatic population is known. This is so that disease severity can be gauged in the context of the normal population and post-operative improvements can be forecast more accurately.
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