![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's finals week.
Class today.
Practical tomorrow.
Orthopedics final on shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand on Thursday.
Pharmacology final on Friday.
I think I'm finally starting to "get" the idea of the orthopedic exam:
1) Ask the right history questions to get a 'fix' on the problem (where does it hurt, when did it start, what makes it better and worse, what do you do for work, what do you do for play, functionally what are you able to do and not able to do, rate your pain on a 1-10 scale).
2) For the upper extremity (shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand) make sure the neck and the joints above and below the problem one are not involved.
3) See what range of motion they can achieve by moving the injured part themselves (measure it).
4) You try moving it to see if you can get more motion (if you can, that means muscle contraction is an issue).
5) See how much strength they have with muscle tests
6) See what it "feels like" the joint is doing (stuck? gritty in there?)
7) Do any diagnostic special tests that confirm or deny what you think it is.
Class today.
Practical tomorrow.
Orthopedics final on shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand on Thursday.
Pharmacology final on Friday.
I think I'm finally starting to "get" the idea of the orthopedic exam:
1) Ask the right history questions to get a 'fix' on the problem (where does it hurt, when did it start, what makes it better and worse, what do you do for work, what do you do for play, functionally what are you able to do and not able to do, rate your pain on a 1-10 scale).
2) For the upper extremity (shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand) make sure the neck and the joints above and below the problem one are not involved.
3) See what range of motion they can achieve by moving the injured part themselves (measure it).
4) You try moving it to see if you can get more motion (if you can, that means muscle contraction is an issue).
5) See how much strength they have with muscle tests
6) See what it "feels like" the joint is doing (stuck? gritty in there?)
7) Do any diagnostic special tests that confirm or deny what you think it is.
