Sitting
If you wish to palpate on the skin, provide a private room and/or sheet or towel for cover. Ask the patient to wear shorts or remove lower limb clothing except for underwear. Provide a towel and ask the patient to wrap the towel under the underwear, so the proximal medial thigh is exposed but the patientÃs genital area is covered with the towel. While the skin can not be viewed with clothes covering the area, the hip adductor tendons are palpable over clothing. However, this palpation usually is done for examination of the tendons or for intervention, which require uncovering the clothing of the proximal medial thigh.
Anterior to the patient.
Please sit. In order to (explain the reason e.g. treat your hip pain), it would be helpful for me to examine some tendons on the inside of your thigh and near your groin. If this is OK with you, I will ask you to take this towel and wrap it under your underwear to uncover these tendons. May I place my fingers on the inside of the top of your thigh? (or point to the demonstrated area, which is much better). To make the tendons tense, I am going to push on your thigh while you hold.
Guide the patient to sit and arrange the towel. With the patient relaxed and with permission, place your fingers on the proximal medial thigh. If a muscle contraction is needed, ask the patient to hold while you provide a push on the thigh in the direction of hip abduction. Palpate the hip adductor tendons near their proximal attachment site.
These tendons and the adjacent joint capsule can become stiff and fibrotic with hip osteoarthritis. This palpation allows measurement related to pain, stiffness and flexibility of the tendons.
These tendons and the adjacent joint capsule can become stiff and fibrotic with hip osteoarthritis. This palpation allows measurement related to pain, stiffness and flexibility of the tendons.
VH - Adductor tendons proximally