bone, joint, and muscle disorders
Medical History and Physical Examination in Musculoskeletal Disorders
Medical History
During a musculoskeletal evaluation, doctors ask people about musculoskeletal symptoms but also look for other symptoms, such as fever, chills, weight loss, rash, eye pain or redness, and symptoms of heart, lung, and gastrointestinal disorders. These other symptoms may be caused by or associated with various musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal Pain is the most common symptom of musculoskeletal disorders. Doctors ask people to describe the character, location, and severity of the pain. They ask people to list factors that aggravate or relieve the pain and describe whether the pain is new or recurring. Doctors want to know whether the pain is worse when first moving a joint or after prolonged use and whether it is present upon waking or develops during the day. Doctors also ask people to describe what the pain feels like, for example, whether it is sharp or dull or whether it is aching or burning. They need to know whether people feel the pain deep in a joint or whether other musculoskeletal structures seem to be affected by it. Knowing the type and location of the pain can help doctors figure out the cause. People who have musculoskeletal disorders often have Joint Stiffness of their joints (that is, people feel resistance when trying to move a joint). Doctors ask people to specifically describe their stiffness because people often use the word "stiffness" to describe weakness or extreme tiredness (fatigue), but, to doctors, "stiffness" means difficulty moving the joints. Doctors distinguish stiffness from a reluctance to move because of pain that occurs with movement. they feel stiffness. In some joint disorders (such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Fatigue is another symptom doctors ask about. Fatigue is when a person feels a strong need to rest and has so little energy that starting and sustaining activity is difficult. It differs from weakness or an inability to move, and doctors evaluate people to distinguish it from sleepiness. Fatigue may mean people have a disorder that affects more than one system in the body and causes inflammation, or that there is a People may have joint instability (for example, wobbliness or buckling of a joint), which suggests weakness of the ligaments or other structures that stabilize the joint. Buckling (when a joint gives out) occurs most often in the knee. 