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 (bruising), scars) and mucous membranes [anemia (anemia), edema (water retention), pruritus (itching)]
- Gait pattern (fluid, limping).
- Body or joint posture (upright, bent, gentle posture).
- Malpositions (deformities, contractures, shortenings).
- Muscle atrophies (side comparison!, circumference measurements if necessary) [muscle weakness occurring mainly in the proximal (trunk) muscles].
- Palpation (palpation) of vertebral bodies, tendons, ligaments; musculature (tone, tenderness, contractures of paraverebral muscles); soft tissue swelling; tenderness (localization! ); limited mobility (spinal motion restrictions); “tapping signs” (testing for painfulness of spinous processes, transverse processes, and costotransverse joints (vertebral-rib joints) and back muscles); illiosacral joints (sacroiliac joint) (pressure and tapping pain?; compression pain, anterior, lateral, or saggital); hyper- or hypomobility? [Spontaneous fractures (spontaneous bone fractures)]
- Palpation of prominent bone points, tendons, ligaments; musculature; joint (joint effusion?); soft tissue swelling; tenderness (localization!) [Spontaneous fractures (spontaneous bone fractures)]
- Further examinations:
- Spinal mobility
- Lateral tilt test
- Measurement of the rib arch iliac crest distance.
- Measurements of the occiput-wall distance
- Measurement of arm span
- Inspection (viewing).
- Health check
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.