MSK Clinical Assessment Flashcards
Which questions make up the GALS screening tool?
- Do you have any pain or stiffness in you muscles, joints or back
- Can you dress yourself completely without any difficulty?
- Can you walk up and down stairs without any difficulty
Which common orthopaedic symptoms are classed as those that “feel wrong”?
- Pain
- Dysaesthesiae
- Weakness
Which common orthopaedic symptoms are classed as those that “move wrong”?
- Stiffness
- Reduced RoM
- Limp
- Instability/collapsing
- Crepitus
Which common orthopaedic symptoms are classed as those that “looking wrong”?
- Swelling
- Deformity
- Wasting
- Shortening
- Discolouration (redness, pallor, bruising etc.)
- Wounds
Which questions would you ask a patient about their typical day?
- Are they woken by pain
- How are they first thing in the morning (pain/swelling/stiffness at worst etc.)
- Dressing (socks and shoelaces)
- Cut own toenails?
- Can they get in and out of the bath
- Walking distance on flat (how long, stopped by what, use of walking aids, stairs and rough ground)
- Driving
- Shopping
- Work, hobbies etc.
List the red flags in orthopaedics
- Severe and worsening pain
- Night pain disturbing sleep
- Non-mechanical pain
- General malaise, febrile, rigors
- Unexplained weight loss, anorexia, night sweats
- PH of malignant disease
Which diseases do you need to ask about in PMH?
- MI/Stroke/PE/DVT
- Jaundice
- TB
- Hypertension
- Rheumatic fever
- Epilepsy
- Asthma
- Diabetes
Which four parts are covered in the GALS screen?
- Gait
- Arms
- Legs
- Spine
What does REMS stand for?
Regional examination of the musculoskeletal system
When in anatomical postion, what is the degree of the joint?
Zero
What do you look for in an MSK examination?
- Posture
- Gait
- Skin: scars, wounds, sinuses, ulcers, colour, and vascular markings
- Swelling
- Wasting: disuse, neurological and cachexia
- Deformity
- Limb lengths
What do you feel for in an MSK examination?
- Skin: temperature, sweating and capillary filling
- Tenderness
- Swelling
- Deformity
How do you move the limbs in an MSK examination?
- Active
- Passive
- Special tests
- Range, rate rhythm
- RoMs
- Accompanied by pain, crepitus and stiffness
- Rhythm/smoothness/laxity/ hypermobility/tenodesis]
- Muscle tone
- Power/strength
- Joint laxity/hypermobility
What must you include in a joint exam?
- Joints above and beyond
- Neurovascular exam of the whole limb
- Relevant systematic examinations
