MOTION PALPATION DEFINED AND DELINEATED
Thomas defines the term motion as "A change of place or position; movement" (Thomas, 1985, p.1069). Thomas additionally defines palpation as the "Process of examining by application of the hands or fingers to the external surface of the body to detect evidence of disease or abnormalities in the various organs" (Thomas, 1985, p. 1211). When these two terms are combined, they produce motion palpation, which refers to the use of the hands or fingers on the part of the chiropractors, or other medical practitioners, to the external body surface of the patient to detect diseased organs, muscles, etc.
Luckmann and Sorensen add that palpation " ... makes use of your sense of touch to assess such factors as texture, crepitance, temperature, moisture, vibration or pulsation, swelling, rigidity or spasticity, organ location and size, presence of lumps or masses, and presence of tenderness or pain" (Luckmann & Sorensen, 1986, p. 315). The use of motion palpation, though heavily relied upon by the chiropractor and other practitioners in the field of medicine and allied fields, is seldom used alone. That is, motion palpation is often preceded by inspection (i.e., the act of visually observing the patient with emphasis on the given diseased structure) and it is typically combined with percussion (i.e., striking the patient's skin over the diseased structure to determine the density, size, and location of an underlying structure) and auscultation (i.e., sound assessment to determine abnormalities of the underlying structure) (pp. 315-317).
There are a variety of movements used in motion palpation, although the majority of them involve circular activity and/or up-and-down activity. Moreover, different parts of the hands and fingers are used for motion palpation. Note that the dorsa (i.e., backs) of the hands and fingers are used for the assessment of temperature, given that the skin is thinner ...