The Davies test, formally known as the Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test (CKCUEST), is a quick physical assessment that measures upper body stability and power. It involves assuming a push-up position and rapidly alternating hand taps on the floor for 15 seconds. Physical therapists, athletic trainers, and sports medicine professionals use it to evaluate shoulder function, track rehabilitation progress, and screen athletes for upper body readiness.
How the Test Works
The setup is simple. Two strips of tape are placed on the floor 36 inches apart. You get into a push-up position with one hand on each tape mark. When the timer starts, you lift one hand, reach across your body to tap the opposite hand (or its tape mark), then return it and repeat with the other hand. You alternate as fast as possible for 15 seconds.
Men typically perform the test from a standard push-up position, while women may use a modified push-up position with knees on the ground. The test is repeated for three 15-second trials with a 45-second rest break between each one. The entire process, including setup and rest periods, takes about four minutes. Two examiners are ideal: one to time and one to count touches.
What It Measures
The Davies test targets two things at once: the explosive power needed to quickly move your hand across your body, and the shoulder and core stability required to hold yourself up on one arm while doing it. Every time you lift a hand, your opposite shoulder, scapular muscles, and trunk have to work hard to keep you from collapsing. This makes it a practical, functional test rather than one that isolates a single muscle group.
Because the test demands so much from the muscles surrounding the shoulder blade, it also serves as a scapular stability assessment. Weakness or poor coordination in those muscles often shows up as a lower score or visible difficulty maintaining the push-up position during testing.
Scoring Methods
There are three ways to score the Davies test, each offering slightly different information:
- Average number of touches: The simplest measure. Add up the touches from all three trials and divide by three. A higher number reflects better speed and stability.
- Normalized score: The average number of touches divided by your height. This accounts for the fact that taller people have longer arms and may need to reach farther, making the score more comparable across different body types.
- Power score: The average number of touches multiplied by 68% of your body weight (in kilograms), then divided by 15. This converts the test into a measure of upper body power output, factoring in how much body mass your arms are supporting and moving.
The normalized and power scores are especially useful when comparing results between individuals or tracking an athlete’s progress over time, since raw touch counts can be misleading without accounting for body size.
Reliability and Accuracy
The Davies test holds up well under scientific scrutiny. A study published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science found it has very high test-retest reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.97. That means if you take the test on two separate occasions a few days apart, your scores will be very consistent, assuming nothing has changed about your condition.
Validity is also strong. Researchers compared Davies test scores against two established measures of upper body function: maximum grip strength and the peak torque of internal and external shoulder rotation measured on a specialized machine. The correlations were high, ranging from 0.78 to 0.94, confirming that the test genuinely reflects upper extremity strength and function rather than just measuring how fast someone can move their hands.
Who Uses It and Why
The Davies test shows up most often in three contexts. Sports medicine professionals use it to screen athletes in overhead sports like baseball, swimming, volleyball, and tennis, where shoulder stability is critical to both performance and injury prevention. A low or asymmetric score can flag potential problems before they become full injuries.
In rehabilitation settings, therapists use it to track recovery after shoulder surgery or injury. Because the test is standardized and highly reliable, small improvements in score over weeks or months reflect real gains in stability and power. It also helps guide return-to-sport decisions by providing an objective benchmark rather than relying solely on how a patient feels.
Strength and conditioning coaches sometimes incorporate it as a baseline measurement at the start of a training program, then retest periodically to see if their programming is improving functional upper body performance.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
The test requires you to support most of your body weight on one arm at a time, which places significant load on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Anyone with an acute shoulder injury, wrist pain, or recent upper extremity surgery should approach it cautiously or skip it entirely until cleared for weight-bearing exercise. The modified (knees-down) position reduces the demand but doesn’t eliminate it.
Core strength and general fitness also influence scores. Someone with a weak core may score poorly not because of a shoulder problem but because they can’t maintain the push-up position long enough to perform well. Clinicians typically consider the whole picture rather than relying on this single test in isolation.
The test also doesn’t tell you specifically what’s wrong. A low score signals reduced stability or power but won’t pinpoint whether the issue is a rotator cuff weakness, scapular dysfunction, or something else. It’s a screening tool, not a diagnostic one, and abnormal results usually lead to more targeted assessments.