Assessing Musculoskeletal

• Structure and Function

  • Encompasses the muscles, bones, and joints.
  • Assesses musculoskeletal system for muscle strength, tone size, and symmetry of muscle development, and tremors.
• Tremor- Involuntary trembling of a limb or body part. May involve large groups of muscle fibers or small bundles of muscle fibers.
• Intention tremor- becomes more apparent when someone attempts a a voluntary movement, such as holding a cup of coffee.
• Resting tremor- more apparent when a client at rest diminishes with activity.
• Fasciculation- an abnormal contraction of a bundle of muscle fibers that appear as a twitch.
• Axial Skeleton- head, torso, and spine.
• Appendicular Skeleton- Arms, pelvic area, legs, hands, and feet.
• Abduction- away from midline.
• Adduction- toward midline.
• Circumduction- circular motion
• Inversion- moving inward
• Eversion- moving outward
• Extension- straightening the extremity at the joint and increasing the angle of the joint.
• Hyperextension- joint bends greater than 180 degrees.
• Flexion- bending the extremity at the joint and decreasing the angle of the joint.
• Dorsiflexion- toes draw upward to ankle.
• Plantar flexion- toes point away from ankle.
• Pronation- turning or facing downward.
• Supination- turning or facing upward.
• Protraction- moving forward.
• Retraction- moving backward
• Rotation- turning of bone on its ownlong axis.
• Internal rotation- turnings of bone toward the center of the body.
• External rotation- turning of bone away from the center of the body.
• Temporomandibular- articulation between the temporal bone and mandible. Opens and closes mouth, projects and retracts jaw, and moves jaw side to side.
• Sternoclavicular- the junction between the manubrium of the sternum and the clavicle; has no obvious movements.
• Elbow- Articulation between the ulna and radius of the lower arm and the humerus of the upper arm; contains synovial membrane and several bursae. Flexion and extension of forearm, and supination and pronation of the forearm.
• Shoulder- articulation of the head in the glenoid cavity of the scapula. The acromioclavicular joint includes the clavicle and acromion process of the scapula.
• Wrist, fingers, thumbs- articulation between the distal radius, ulnar bone, carpals, and metacarpals. Contains ligaments and is line with a synovial membrane.
• Vertebrae- Thirty-three bones.
• Fibrocartilaginous Plates- also called Intervertebral discs and cushion bones.
• Hip- articulation between the head of the femur and the acetabulum.
• Knee- articulation of femur, tibia, and patella; contains fibrocartilaginous discs.
• Ankle and foot- articulation between the talus, tibia, and fibula.
• Atonic- lacking tone
• Flaccidity- weakness or laxness, or spasticity (sudden involuntary muscle contraction.)
• Sternocleidomastoid- The client turns head to one side against the resistance of your hand. Repeat with the other side.
• Trapezius- client shrugs shoulders against the resistance of your hands.
• Deltoid- The client holds arm up and resists while you try to push it down.
• Biceps- client fully extends each arm and tries to flex it while you attempt to hold arm in extension.