MGR-03 - A Show of Hands: The Art and Science of Physical Examination Part I: Headaches, Neck and Upper Extremity Pain

Healthcare providers are frequently subjected to time limitations based upon when it comes to evaluating patients with painful conditions Although diagnosing a patient with headache or back pain may seem uncomplicated, both of these chief complaints involve significant variability with respect to their underlying pathophysiology and clinical manifestations, which are further complicated by overlapping conditions and/or comorbidities. Such diagnoses require the need for a highly patient-centered and problem-focused physical examination. Even among the most seasoned providers, there is a tendency to view the patient from the perspective of our individual training and clinical experience. For a variety of reasons, the hands-on examination is often deemphasized while in practice it should be an important component of the clinical evaluation. There is much information that can be gleaned from the hands-on examination that can help influence more informed clinical decision making with respect to choosing additional diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.

This session is structured to help provide an interactive hands-on approach with clinical pearls that leverages the multidisciplinary experiences of the presenters in a practical manner to share valuable clinical insights that can help differentiate between conditions that can contribute to neck pain and headaches. For example, what are diagnostic pearls to help differentiate between a tension headache, migraine, cervicogenic headache, and migraine with cervicalgia. The goal is to be able to demonstrate examination maneuvers and techniques that can be leveraged during routine examination to better quantify clinical findings and arrive at a more patient centered problem focused assessment to better guide treatment.