Musculoskeletal Assessment Lecture Notes

Introduction

• Presenter: Meris
• Focus: How to perform a musculoskeletal assessment
• Materials: Health assessment flashcards available at leveluprn.com, digital version called "Flashables"

Key Assessment Components

Inspection

• Body Size and Shape
  • Check for symmetry and size of muscles
  • Look for signs of atrophy or hypertrophy
  • Observe for swelling, redness (erythema), masses, or deformities

Spine Curvatures

• Normal Curvatures
  • Importance of recognizing normal curves such as the cervical spine's concave curvature
  • Abnormal curves to be discussed in the next session
  • Exaggerated or absent curves require further investigation

Joint Movements

• Palpation
  • Active Range of Motion (ROM)
    • Patient performs movements independently (e.g., athletes or yoga)
  • Passive Range of Motion
    • Movement is assisted by another person (e.g., examiner moves the patient's arm)

Muscle Strength

• Opposing Actions
  • Examiner resists the patient's movement
  • Examples: Pulling examiner towards them, pushing against resistance like a gas pedal
• Grading Muscle Strength (0 to 5 scale)
  • 5/5: Full ROM with full resistance
  • 0/5: No muscle tone (flaccid)
  • Note: Documentation standards may vary by facility

Conclusion

• A quiz at the end to test knowledge of content covered
• Example Question: Grading muscle strength with full ROM against full resistance – Answer: 5/5

Additional Notes

• Viewer interaction encouraged, comments and feedback appreciated
• Encouragement and motivation for learners
• Invite to subscribe and share the channel
• Importance of liking and providing feedback on the content's usefulness

End of notes.