With the patientís shoulder relaxed, place your fingers just lateral to the inferior aspect of the axillary border of the scapula. Position the patientís shoulder in slight flexion or neutral with the elbow extended. Guide the patient to extend his/her shoulder. Palpate the muscle bulge during this movement. With unclear muscle activity, provide gradually increasing resistance by having the patient hold while the examiner produces a push on the arm in the direction of shoulder flexion. While usually not necessary, you may need to resist all 3 directions of action of the teres major. This is explained for the patientís right teres major. One way to do this is for the the examinerís left hand to hold the patientís right hand and for the examiner to palpate with the right fingers. Ask the patient to hold against the attempt to push the patientís shoulder into slight flexion, abduction, and lateral rotation to resist shoulder extensor, adductor, and medial rotator effort.