Posterior sag sign: Technique, grading, and PCL assessment
Download your free posterior sag sign assessment template A clinical assessment form for recording posterior sag sign findings, with a positioning checklist and bilateral comparison fields. It also carries severity grading and a clinical notes section, so the finding lands in the record in a readable form. Download template The posterior sag sign is one […]
Sit and reach test: Protocol, norms and score interpretation
Read a sit and reach score against age and sex norms, pick the right protocol variant, and know why a low score is not a diagnosis.
CPT code 97163: Physical therapy evaluation, high complexity
97163 needs all three gates: 3+ comorbidities affecting care, 4+ body elements, high-complexity CDM. Medicare pays all three tiers alike.
Shoulder exam: A complete clinical guide for practitioners
Shoulder impingement accounts for 44-65% of shoulder pain complaints seen in general practice, according to the NIH’s published clinical assessment review. Roughly 1% of adults over 45 present to their primary care physician with shoulder pain each year. Most of those presentations involve the rotator cuff, subacromial space, or glenohumeral joint, structures that respond very […]
Respiratory exam template: IPPA steps and documentation
Download your free respiratory exam template The form walks through inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in order. It has fields for respiratory rate, chest expansion, percussion notes, breath sounds, and a normal-limits check for each section. Download template A respiratory exam is four steps in a fixed order: look, feel, tap, listen. Run them the […]
SOAP notes for physical therapy
Download your free physical therapy SOAP note template A four-part note form with prompts for every section, from pain rating and functional limits through range of motion and muscle grades. It also covers progress toward goals, visit frequency, and home exercise instructions. Download template SOAP notes for physical therapy do one job above all others. […]
Timed up and go test: How to administer, score, and interpret results
Falls cost the US healthcare system an estimated $50 billion annually, yet most falls are predictable. The timed up and go test is one of the few clinical tools that can flag elevated fall risk in under two minutes. It needs nothing more than a chair, a stopwatch, and 3 meters of floor space. Despite […]
Fortin finger test: procedure, interpretation, and clinical use
A comprehensive review in Anesthesia and Analgesia puts the sacroiliac joint behind 15% to 30% of mechanical low back pain. Despite that prevalence, isolating the SI joint as the pain source remains one of the harder tasks in musculoskeletal practice. The fortin finger test offers a fast, non-invasive starting point. It needs no equipment, takes […]
Patellar grind test (Clarke’s sign): procedure and accuracy
A positive patellar grind test means pain on quadriceps contraction, not crepitus alone. Reported sensitivity runs 39% to 85%.
Maudsley’s test: how to perform and interpret the result
Maudsley’s test checks for tennis elbow by resisting middle finger extension with the elbow straight. Pain at the lateral epicondyle is a positive result. It points to the common extensor origin as the source of the patient’s lateral elbow pain. The test takes seconds, needs no equipment, and brings on pain in most patients who […]