- WIPE, blah blah 🙂
- “Take vital signs”
- Proper exposure: both legs
- General inspection of the patient + surroundings (walking aids)
- Assess the pt’s gait
- Look: (from all sides, while the pt is standing)
- Skin changes (redness, discoloration, rash)
- Scars
- Swelling\bulging
- Popliteal swelling\baker’s cyst
- Muscle wasting (quadriceps)
- Deformity (varus\valgus)
- Feel: (first ask if they have pain?)
- Temperature
- Landmarks:
- Bony: patella, tibial tuberosity\platue, epicondyles, prox fibula
- Soft tissue: joint line tenderness, quadriceps, popliteal fossa
- While you’re there, palpate the popliteal A
- Effusion:
- Bulge\milking sign (small effusion)
- Patellar tap (large effusion)
- Move: flexion + extension
- Active
- Against resistance “comment on power”
- Passive “comment on ROM and crepitus”
- Special tests:
- ACL\PCL: ant\post drawer test (at 90°)
- LCL\MCL: varus\valgus stress test (at 0° and 30°)
- Meniscus: McMurray’s test
- Neurovascular:
- Tibial N:
- M -> planter flexion
- S -> sole of the foot
- Deep peroneal N:
- M -> foot dorsiflexion
- S -> 1st web space
- Superficial peroneal N:
- M -> foot eversion
- S -> dorum of the foot
- Reflexes:
- Patellar
- Ankle jerk
- Pulses:
- Popliteal A
- Dorsalis pedis A
- Post tibial A
- Tibial N:
- Joint above + joint below