Apprehension Test |
Examination type |
Ligamentous |
Patient & Body Segment Positioning |
Patient is supine with knee extended |
Examiner Position |
Examiner is on opposite side of the involved
knee, facing the patient or examiner sits in between the
patients legs with their knee in between the examiners thighs.
|
Tissues
Being Tested |
Patella, quadriceps muscles and quadriceps
tendon. |
Performing the Test |
With examiner on opposite side of involved knee,
get the patient to relax quad and hamstring muscles. With both
thumbs on the medial aspect of patella, and the fingers on the
lateral side of patella, push patella laterally |
Positive Test |
The athlete will express sudden apprehension at
the point at which the patella begins to dislocate or the
patella will subluxe. |
Interpretation |
A positive test indicates that the patella can be
easily dislocated or sublaxated |
Common errors in
performing exam |
Common errors made in this exam sometimes are:
not getting the patient to relax the leg and thigh muscles,
wrong hand placement by the examiner, not watching the athlete
for apprehension |
Factors possibly
resulting in misinterpretation |
A patient with their knee flexed or quad muscles
tightened. If there is swelling of the patella tendon |
Related tests |
Patella Compression and Patella Grinding |
References |
Prentice,
William E Principles of Athletic Training, p 590-591 |
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