Principles and Concepts of Musculoskeletal Assessment and Examination

Principles and Concepts of
Musculoskeletal Assessment and
Examination

, Principles and concepts of Musculoskeletal
assessment and examination

• The purpose of the assessment should be to fully and clearly
understand the patient’s problems, from the patient’s perspective
as well as the clinician’s, and the physical basis for the
symptoms that have caused the patient to complain.
• to ensure that nothing is overlooked, the assessment must be
organized, comprehensive, and reproducible by establishing a
sequential method

, Principles and concepts of Musculoskeletal
assessment and examination
Total Musculoskeletal Assessment includes:
• Patient history
• Observation
• Examination of movement
• Special tests
• Reflexes and cutaneous distribution
• Joint play movements
• Palpation
• Diagnostic imaging

, Patient History
- A complete medical and injury history should be taken and
written to ensure reliability.
- This requires effective and efficient communication on the part
of the examiner and the ability to develop a good rapport with
the patient and, in some cases, family members and other
members of the health care team
- emphasis in taking the history should be placed on the portion of
the assessment that has the greatest clinical relevance.