Touch and Palpation Flashcards
Cybernetic Loop
– process of making physical contact with patient and unconscious reaction by the patient followed by physician reacting, etc.
Touch
– intimate action implying an invasion of individual’s personal, private space
o Mothers-Infants – can increase positive affect and attention on both child and herself
o Dentists – children displayed less fidgeting behavior and reported greater pleasure post-treatment
o Can be a modifier of stress
Therapeutic Touch
– NON-physical contact
o Contemporary interpretation of several ancient healing practices
o A consciously directed process of energy during which the practitioner uses the hands as a focus for facilitating healing – repatterning energy in the direction of health
o Controversial – mixed positive and negative research studies
Palpation
– diagnostic and therapeutic – application of fingers to the surface of the skin or other tissues, using varying amounts of pressure to selectively determine the condition of the parts beneath (shape, size, consistency, position, inherent mobility & motility, and health of the tissues beneath)
o Physical diagnosis – reflection of neurovascular changes secondary to the somatic/visceral dysfunction
Somesthesis
– all sensed events referable to body surface and wall
o Recognition of the existence of one’s body
o Except – taste and vestibular
Osteopathic manipulative treatment
– therapeutic application of manually guided forces to improve physiologic function and support homeostasis
o Research involving “sham/placebo” technique in touching person’s body because of the effect of “laying on of the hands”
o Palpatory skills – sensory skills used in performing palpatory diagnosis and OMT
o Palpatory Diagnosis – process of palpating the patient to evaluate the neuromusculoskeletal and visceral systems
somatic dysfunction
– impaired or altered function of related components of the somatic system - skeletal, arthrodial, and myofascial structures, and related vascular, lymphatic, and neural elements
mechanoreceptors
– sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion o Pacinian corpuscles o Meissner’s corpuscles o Merkel’s discs o Ruffini corpuscles
proprioceptors
o Position sense
o Tendon and muscle sensation
o Pressure sensation from the feet
meissner’s corpuscles
– most abundant at palmar aspect of fingers
o Responsible for sensitivity to light touch
o Highest sensitivity (lowest threshold) when sensing vibrations lower than 50 Hz
o Rapidly adaptive receptors
merkel’s discs
– most abundant at palmar aspect of the fingers
o Provide touch information to the brain
o Pressure and texture
ruffini’s corpuscles
– found in deeper layers of the skin and subcutaneous tissue throughout the body
o Slowly adapting mechanoreceptors that may only exist in glabrous dermis and subcutaneous tissue
o Contributes to kinesthetic sense of and control of finger position and movement
o Useful in monitoring slippage of objects along the surface of skin, allowing modulation of grip on an object
Krause end bulbs
– found in deeper layers of skin and subcutaneous tissue
o Responsible for sensing low level vibrations
temperature receptors
o Cold receptors are more abundant than those for heat and located closer to surface of skin
o When palpating for heat we need to use specific areas of hand that are not callused
pacini’s corpuscle
– found subcutaneously throughout the body
o Sensitivity to deep pressure touch
o High frequency vibration – used to feel heart beat through chest
