Neurological Tests Flashcards
Romberg test
The patient is asked to remove his shoes and stand with his two feet together. The arms are held next to the body or crossed in front of the body
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The clinician asks the patient to first stand quietly with eyes open, and subsequently with eyes closed.
Performance: The patient stands upright with both feet together. First the test is performed with the eyes open, then with the eyes closed.
Assessment: Check if the patient gets dizzy or looses his equilibrium with the eyes open and/or closed. Look for deviations, direction of deviations and influence of distraction.
Finger-pointing test
Performance: The patient sits or stands in front of the therapist. The patient has to follow with his index finger the finger of the therapist as accurately as possible without touching it.
Assessment: Assess the direction of overshoot and intention tremor.
Babinski-Weil test
Performance: The patient walks 4 or 5 steps forwards and backwards with the eyes closed and both arms stretched forward at shoulder height. This is repeated a couple of times without opening the eyes in the meantime.
Assessment: Evaluate deviations and the direction of deviations of a straight for- and backwards walking pattern. The consecutive deviations can form a typical pattern assembling a star. Compare the width of the support base (wide vs narrow) between walking with the eyes open and closed.
Nystagmus test with cervical rotation
Performance: Evaluate spontaneous nystagmus. First look at the patients eyes while the patient looks at a point in front of him at a distance of more than 2 meters. Then the presence of a spontaneous nystagmus is evaluated while the patient stares from different eye-angles, such as looking upwards or to the left.
Assessment: Check the presence of a nystagmus. Nystagmus is an involuntary, rhytmic, osscilatory eye movement. A spontaneous nystagmus is a reason for referral for specialistic examination, regardless of direction, frequency or speed.
Smooth pursuit test
Performance: The patient keeps the head steady and tries to follow a slowly moving object with his eyes.
Assessment: Look for influent eye movements or saccades. Other recognisable symptoms can be provoked
