In medicine, palpation is what?

Palpation is a medical method for examining a patient. Produced as a preventive and curative measure. The doctor examines the patient's pulse, controls how various internal organs react to the touch. The research is widespread since the 19th century. Nowadays this is the only medical method that allows full contact between the patient and the doctor.

Operating principle

Palpation works on tactile sensations, provoked by touching, pressing with fingers, one or even two hands of the doctor. The specialist works directly with the patient's body, determining the features and disadvantages of the outer covers, finding out the state of the organs inside. With a high level of specialist palpation guarantees an accurate definition:

- location (which is especially important for displacements, congenital deformations);

- dimensions of internal organs, forms;

Mobility.

Palpation is an important method that allows you to determine how painful a particular organ is felt in a human body (but not only).

Subspecies of technology

There are large subtypes: deep, superficial.

Surface palpation is the study of external factors. The specialist pays attention to the joints, skin, vessels. The process uses one or both hands. They are laid on the skin of the diseased part of the body, and the vessels are probed with fingertips. The species is used quite narrowly, as a rule, in consultations.

Deep palpation is a technique necessary for a detailed examination, which allows to find out how well the internal organs function. It is indispensable when the superficial is not able to give results because of the location of the diseased zone. Because the technique is widespread, several subtypes have been developed:

- Deep dive. In this case, the doctor in the diagnosis of immersing his fingers directly into the affected areas. So you can check how well the joints, muscles work, check the condition of the bones and adrenals.

- Deep sliding. This technique is necessary in the study of the abdominal cavity. The doctor receives data on problem areas, examining the abdominal wall, with the tips of his fingers slipping right through the cavity. Literally the first seconds allow to receive the response of the organism, on the basis of which it is possible to establish the diagnosis and the source of the problem.

- Balloting, known as the "shock method". A similar examination-palpation is indispensable for diseases of the liver and tumors of the abdominal cavity. The effectiveness of the method is highest when it comes to ascites. The abdominal wall is pushed with neat movements, due to which the organ occupies the right position. They note the effectiveness of the approach in other diseases.

Features

Percussion, palpation are two widely used methods that allow an accurate diagnosis. Both technologies have become basic in the development of medicine in the field of physical examination.

Palpation is performed when the patient is lying or standing. First, a superficial study is conducted, which helps to localize the pain during palpation and determine what internal organs it corresponds to. When performing the procedure, they are guided by the patient's breathing.

Methodology

If it is necessary to provide a study of the stomach, the doctor slightly bends and folds the fingers together, then gently exhales into the abdominal cavity so as to reach the posterior wall. The stomach is pressed down. The organ should slip under the fingers. The information obtained in the study helps to establish how much the organ is large and what its shape is. Pain at palpation allows to estimate possible damages and to establish the exact diagnosis. By means of the method, the presence of tumors is clarified or data are obtained that the curvature of the stomach is not normal. However, one should remember, if the tumor appeared in the cardiac part of the organ, it can not be found with the help of palpation, it is necessary to carry out an X-ray.

Palpation: rare methods

In addition to the two types of research described above, two more variants of studying the organism are distinguished. They are less widespread, nevertheless:

- bimanual;

- jerky.

The balloting jerky is carried out with the help of a fist. The doctor conducts jerky movements in a short series of strong enough strokes. With the help of such technology it is possible to understand what is in the abdominal cavity, in the intestine. If the organs are excessively filled with liquid, there is a splash.

With bimanual probing, it is performed with both hands simultaneously. This technique provides simultaneous coverage of a large area. You can find out the presence of a tumor, examine the entire abdominal cavity, the kidney at the same time.

The method is widely used in veterinary medicine, as it is applicable to medium-sized living beings. One of the options for the study: both hands are placed on the surface of the body and one is pressed on one side and the other on the opposite side.

But in the event that health problems are associated with the rectum or oral cavity, if pains in the organs accessible rectally are excruciating, one must resort to the patient's inner palpation.