Musculoskeletal Examination Skills: Are We Still Interested?

Abdulhadi Gelidan,Hani Almoallim

doi:10.4236/ijcm.2012.35065

Abstract

This article explores problems and solutions of Musculoskeletal (MSK) examinations skills and points out that it is very important to keep medical educators interested to improve the situation of MSK teaching. MSK conditions are usually overlooked though they represent 20% of both primary care and emergency-room visits of the most common health complications that require medical attention across the world. MSK disorders can lead to serious disabilities and significant burden and though its problems are expected to increase, there is a continuous neglect in musculoskeletal examination skills in clinical practice. To participate in solving this problem, the article accentuates the necessity of defining MSK competencies and of agreeing on standards of MSK exams and calls for an integrated teaching of MSK examination skills that uses interactive methodologies like patients’ educators and peer-assisted learning. This article comprises four parts, an introduction, a description of the deficiencies in musculoskeletal examination skills, the causes of these deficiencies and finally some solutions of musculoskeletal examination skills deficiencies. We venture to bring attention to an overlooked but major analyses constituent that impacts patients’ overall health.

Highlights

This paper is a theoretical exploration of the problems of musculoskeletal (MSK) examination
MSK disorders can lead to serious disabilities and significant burden and though its problems are expected to increase, there is a continuous neglect in musculoskeletal examination skills in clinical practice
We argue that MSK symptoms are a most common health complications requiring medical attention and accounting to 20% of both primary care and emergency-room visits [1], MSK symptoms do not receive proper teaching attention

Summary

Introduction

This paper is a theoretical exploration of the problems of musculoskeletal (MSK) examination. In a recent study where a standardised MSK examination of the hand and wrist joints has been determined and validated, it was suggested that adopting such approach is hoped to improve clinicians’ ability to diagnose arthritis at an early stage, in areas where rheumatologists have limited access to ultrasound (US) [2] This is one of the first studies to call attention to the persistence of the problem in Saudi Arabia and to investigate causes of the problem and suggest educational solutions to remedy it for the benefit of the patients. In the following part we are going to discuss the deficiencies in MSK examination and the causes of these deficiencies in order to arrive at a better understanding of this problem, its causes, and possible solutions to improve the MSK examination conditions

Deficiencies in Musculoskeletal Examination Skills

Solution of MSK Examination Deficiency

Standardization Problems Can Be Resolved in a Number of Ways

Findings

Conclusion