title: History and physical examination in patients with herniated lumbar discs.
abstract: To outline the usefulness of the medical history and physical examination in the diagnosis of herniated lumbar discs, and to review the essential properties of a test, including sensitivity, specificity, and clinical value. None of the tests that are part of a history and physical examination of a patient with a disc herniation has a high diagnostic accuracy by itself. This is because positive and negative predictive values of common clinical indicators are limited. Confirmatory tests are necessary for a definitive diagnosis when making management decisions. Combining the results of history and physical findings will increase the predictive value of these basic diagnostic tools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Deyo
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008499:Medical Records; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D010808:Physical Examination; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity