A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, body weight, body height; further:
- Inspection (viewing).
- Skin, mucous membranes and sclerae (white part of the eye).
- Abdomen (abdomen)
- Shape of the abdomen?
- Skin color? Skin texture?
- Efflorescences (skin changes)?
- Pulsations? Bowel movements?
- Visible vessels?
- Scars? Hernias (fractures)?
- Functional testing of the cervical spine (due toDD. Pseudomeningism!) [Meningismus?/painful neck stiffness).
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart.
- Examination of the lungs
- Auscultation (listening) of the lungs
- Percussion (tapping) of the lungs [e.g., in emphysema; box sound in pneumothorax].
- Palpation (palpation) of the abdomen (abdomen) (tenderness?, knocking pain?, coughing pain?, defensive tension?, hernial orifices?, renal bearing knocking pain?) [if appendicitis/induced appendicitis is suspected, see also under appendicitis/physical examination; protrusion in the groin region (visible or palpable)? → think of: Inguinal hernia (inguinal hernia), possibly incarcerated hernia (hernia with critical entrapment of hernia contents in the hernial orifice)]
- Inspection (viewing).
- Neurological examination [if meningitis (meningitis) is suspected; persistent stiffness as well as flaccidity]
- Pediatric examination
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
