The Virtual Shoulder Physical Exam

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Sridhar Pinnamaneni, Signature Medical Group; Joseph Lamplot, Emory University; Scott A. Rodeo, Hospital for Special Surgery; Stephanie Swensen-Buza, Signature Medical Group; Cort D. Lawton, Ortho Illinois; Joshua S. Dines, Hospital for Special Surgery; Warren Young Young, Hospital for Special Surgery; Samuel A. Taylor, Hospital for Special Surgery
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-02-01
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2020
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1556331620975033
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 59
• End Page: 64
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Validation; Pathology; sports; Lesions; Orthopedics; general topics; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; nonoperative treatments; Accuracy; Identifying scapular dyskinesis; body sites; diagnostic modalities; shoulder; practice specialty; physiotherapy; Range; Biceps tendon; Diagnostic value; Science & Technology; Surgery; Anterior; physical exam; Clinical tests; practice management
• Research Categories: Biology, Physiology; Health Sciences, Rehabilitation and Therapy; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, Health Care Management

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has forced a sudden and dramatic shift in the way that clinicians interact with their patients, from outpatient encounters to telehealth visits utilizing a variety of internet-based videoconferencing applications. Although many aspects of pre–COVID-19 outpatient sports medicine care will ultimately resume, it is likely that telehealth will persist because of its practicality and because of patient demand for access to efficient and convenient health care. Physical examination is widely considered a critical obstacle to a thorough evaluation of sports medicine patients during telehealth visits. However, a closer reflection suggests that a majority of the examination maneuvers are possible virtually with limited, if any, modifications. Thus, we provide a comprehensive shoulder and knee physical examination for sports medicine telehealth visits, including (1) verbal instructions in layman’s terms that can be provided to the patient before or read verbatim during the visit, (2) multimedia options (narrated videos and annotated presentations) of the shoulder and knee examination that can be provided to patients via screen-share options, and (3) a corresponding checklist to aid in documentation.