A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin (normal: intact; abrasions/wounds, redness, hematomas (bruises), scars) and mucous membranes.
- Gait (fluid, limping).
- Body or joint posture (upright, bent, gentle posture).
- Malpositions (deformities, contractures, shortenings).
- Muscle atrophies (side comparison!, if necessary circumference measurements).
- Joint (abrasions/wounds, swelling (tumor), redness (rubor), hyperthermia (calor); injury indications such as hematoma formation, arthritic joint lumpiness, leg axis assessment).
- Palpation (palpation) of prominent bone points, tendons, ligaments; musculature; joint (joint effusion?); soft tissue swelling; Druckschmerzhaftigkeit (localization!) [Pressure pain in the affected joint (pain; lat. dolor); fluctuation palpable].
- Measurement of joint mobility and range of motion of the joint (according to the neutral zero method: the range of motion is given as the maximum deflection of the joint from the neutral position in angular degrees, where the neutral position is designated as 0°. The starting position is the “neutral position”: the person stands upright with the arms hanging down and relaxed, the thumbs pointing forward and the feet parallel. The adjacent angles are defined as the zero position. Standard is that the value away from the body is given first). Comparative measurements with the contralateral joint (side-to-side comparison) can reveal even small lateral differences. [painful restriction of movement (functional restriction; lat. functio laesa)]
- If necessary, special functional tests depending on the affected joint.
- Inspection (viewing).
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
