Course Focus: pathology involving muscles, joints, and bones.
Cases: patients of all ages, including sports medicine issues
Anatomy
Musculoskeletal problem-solving involves a thorough understanding of the anatomy. Examination of Spine and Extremities by Hoppenfeld is the best book available for us front-line healers.
OLD ACHE
Characterize the pain using an acrostic like:
O = Onset pain
L = Location Pain
D = Duration of pain
A = Associated symptoms
C = Character of pain
H = helps the pain
E = exacerbates the pain
Systematic
Musculoskeletal complaints must be examined systematically. Don’t be higgledy-piggledy. For instance, for hand injuries, I use this acrostic:
New = neurovascular
T = tenderness
E = Erythema
A = Angulation
R = Range of motion
S = Special tests (Tinel/s)