Renal Osteopathy: Examination

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
  • Health check

Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.