A proposal for a new definition of the axial rotation angle of the shoulder joint

The Euler/Cardan angles are commonly used to define the motions of the upper arm with respect to the trunk. This definition, however, has a problem in that the angles of both the horizontal flexion/extension and the axial rotation of the shoulder joint become unstable at the gimbal-lock positions. In this paper, a new definition of the axial rotation angle was proposed. The proposed angle was stable over the entire range of the shoulder motion. With the new definition, the neutral position of the axial rotation agreed with that in the conventional anatomy. The advantage of the new definition was demonstrated by measuring actual complex motions of the shoulder with a three-dimensional motion capture system.