Musculoskeletal Key

History If the patient cannot tell you what happened, then the paramedics should be able to advise on whether the burn was caused by heat, chemicals, electric shock or a…

Plastic surgery is the craft of moving skin and soft tissues to repair damage or to improve appearance and function. The skin provides a crucial function preventing excess fluid from…

General assessment Carry out a rapid general assessment of the whole patient to make sure that their airway, breathing and circulation are satisfactory (ABC, then D and E; see Chapter…

Introduction The population of the developed world is ageing rapidly. The problems of the elderly have come to dominate orthopaedic and trauma services. There are a number of special problems:…

Neurological disorders There are multitudes of neurological disorders that may present in an orthopaedic clinic. These can vary from polio, which has now almost disappeared from the developed world (but…

Definition Sports medicine is at one end of the spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders in that it relates to individuals who have very high expectations of their bodies, and who also…

Introduction Although many of the treatments for inflammatory disease such as RA have been around for several decades, knowledge about the pathogenesis of disease has highlighted several new therapeutic options….

Introduction The majority of rheumatological diseases are long-term chronic conditions, occasionally associated with considerable disability. Even in a stable or slowly progressive disease such as RA, discrete events such as…

21 Rheumatological history and examination History The musculoskeletal history has the same basic framework as any medical or surgical history with details of the presenting complaint, history of presenting complaint,…