Return to Physical Diagnosis
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| Sign | Description, Finding | Indication |
| Doll's Eye Sign | Dissociation between movement of the eyes and of the head. Eyes moves up and head moves down. | |
| Babinski's Sign | Fanning of big toe when you stroke the plantar aspect of the foot | CNS: Pyramidal Tract Lesion |
| Chaddock's Sign | Great toe fanning when you touch the external malleolar skin | CNS: Corticospinal tract lesions |
| Eyelash Sign | Stroking eyelash produces no movement of lids.
Stroking eyelash produces movement of lids. |
CNS: Organic stroke.
CNS: Functional hysteria |
| Hoffman's Sign
Digital Reflex |
Nipping nail of middle finger cause flexion of terminal phalanx of thumb. Unilaterally. | CNS: Pyramidal Tract Disease |
| Clenched Fist (Levine's) Sign | Holding clenched fist over chest to describe constricting, pressing pain | CV: Angina Pectoris |
| de Musset's Sign | Rhythmic jerking movement of the head | CV: Aortic Insufficiency |
| Ewart's Sign | Dullness, bronchial breathing, bronchophony over the angle of the left scapula. | CV: Pericardial effusion |
| Hamman's Sign | Crunching sound synchronous with heartbeat. | CV: Mediastinal Emphy-sema, Pneumopericardium |
| Hill's Sign | Exaggerated femoral artery systolic pressure (60 to 100 mm Hg higher) over brachial systolic pressure. | CV: Aortic Insufficiency |
| Homan's Sign | Pain in back of calf or knee when foot is dorsiflexed. | CV: Thrombosis in veins of calf |
| Kussmaul's Sign | Paradoxical increase in jugular venous distension when patient inspires. | CV: Cardiac Tamponade |
| Osler's Sign | Painful erythematous swellings in skin and subcutaneous tissues of hands and feet. | CV: Endocarditis |
| Joffroy's Sign | No forehead wrinkling when the eyeballs are rolled upward. | Endocrine: Grave's Disease |
| Möbius Sign | Impaired ocular convergence (accommodation) | Endocrine: Grave's Disease |
| Stellwag's Sign | Infrequent and incomplete blinking. | Endocrine: Grave's Disease |
| Kestenbaum's Sign | Decrease in number of arterioles crossing optic disk margins. | Eye: Optic Atrophy |
| Marcus Gunn Pupillary Sign | Flashlight swung from one eye to the other eye, then both pupils dilate (when they should constrict). | Eye: Cataract, optic nerve defects |
| Cullen's Sign | Periumbilical darkening of the skin | GI: Intraperitoneal hemorrhage, from hemorrhagic pancreatitis or ectopic pregnancy |
| Grey Turner's Sign | Local discoloration of the skin of the loins | GI: Acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis |
| Groove Sign | Firm nodes in groin above and below inguinal ligament, with a groove along the ligament. | GI: Lymphogranuloma Venereum |
| Kehr's Sign | Violent pain in the left shoulder | GI: Ruptured Spleen |
| Puddle Sign | Patient gets on all fours, and palpating at one end allows auscultation at the other end of the abdomen. Stethoscope moves from most dependent position gradually contralaterally. | GI: Ascites |
| Rovsing's Sign | Pain in right abdomen at McBurney's Point when pressure is exerted on left abdomen. | GI: Appendicitis |
| Bárány's Sign | Irrigate ear with cold water: should lead to nystagmus on opposite side.
Irrigate ear with warm water: should lead to nystagmus on same side. This sign shows no nystagmus |
Head and Neck: Labyrinthine disease, such as Meniere's Disease |
| Battle's Sign | Postauricular ecchymosis | Head and Neck: fracture of the base of the of the skull. |
| Brudzinski's Sign | (1) Contralateral leg reflex: passive flexion of leg on
one side elicits reflex on the opposite side.
(2) Passively flex neck, and hips and knees flex spontaneously. |
Infectious: Meningitis |
| Kernig's Sign | Patient lies on back and flexes thigh upward, then complete extension of leg is impossible. | Infectious: Meningitis |
| Pastia's Sign | Hemorrhagic transverse lines at bend of elbow, wrist, or inguinal region. It persists after desquamation. | Infectious: Scarlet Fever |
| Romberg's Sign | Close eyes and lose gait; ataxia. | Infectious: Tabes Dorsalis |
| Winterbottom's Sign | Swelling of posterior cervical lymph nodes. | Infectious: African Sleeping Sickness (Trypanosomiasis) |
| Chvostek's Sign | Facial irritability. Unilateral spasm induced by tap over the facial nerve. | Muscular: Tetany |
| Trousseau's Sign | Upper arm compressed by a tourniquet or blood-pressure cuff causes carpal spasm. | Muscular: Tetany |
| Braxton Hicks Contractions | Irregular uterine contractions after third month of pregnancy. | OB/GYN: Pregnancy |
| Chadwick's Sign | Bluish discoloration of cervix and vagina | OB/GYN: Pregnancy |
| Drawer Sign | Forward sliding (anterior cruciate) or backward sliding (posterior cruciate) of the tibia. | Skeletal: Disruption of anterior (forward slide) or posterior (backward slide) cruciate ligaments of knee. |
| Lasègue's Sign | When patient is supine with hip flexed up, dorsiflexion of the ankle causes pain. | Skeletal: Sciatic Nerve irritation (Sciatica) |
| Nikolsky's Sign | Sliding pressure of thumb pressed against skin separates outer layer from basal dermis. | Skin: Pemphis Vulgaris |