Obscure Medical Signs?

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Simusid

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I have been reading EMTLife for some time now and I have learned a tremendous amount of information. This has been both textbook stuff as well as real world anecdotes. I read the forums every day at lunch and something usually leads me to Wikipedia for more reading.

Specifically, I find obscure medical signs absolutely fascinating. The two examples that come to mind right now are Caput Medusa and Asterixis. Ok maybe they're not obscure to you but they were to me! I'd love to hear about more. What is your favorite medical sign?
 
Simusid said:
I have been reading EMTLife for some time now and I have learned a tremendous amount of information. This has been both textbook stuff as well as real world anecdotes. I read the forums every day at lunch and something usually leads me to Wikipedia for more reading.

Specifically, I find obscure medical signs absolutely fascinating. The two examples that come to mind right now are Caput Medusa and Asterixis. Ok maybe they're not obscure to you but they were to me! I'd love to hear about more. What is your favorite medical sign?
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Sometimes wikipedia isn't the best source. I can, however suggest some excellent sources depending on how well-versed you are in medicine and your desire to learn.

1. Human Anatomy & Physiology - Marieb
2. Pathologic Basis of Disease - Robbins and Cotran
3. Porth's Essentials of Pathophysiology

You will find a lot of interesting things.

I can't really thing of any medical signs that are particularly fascinating to me (Not that I am jaded or anything, I just can't think of anything that comes to mind)

Cushing's Triad is interesting, I suppose.
 
My favorite is the "positive glasses" sign.

It is when you do morning rounds on a patient who was unconscious for some prolonged amount of time and you find they have their glasses on.

Since they don't have them on when they are out of it for so long, it demonstrates they woke up and knew they needed them, then had the presence of mind and motor capacity to find them on the bedside table and put them on.

A very good prognostic indicator. :)

Beware of the false positive when the nurse puts them on so the family can see them on when they visit.
 
Throckmorton's sign...
 
JPINFV said:
Throckmorton's sign...
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Left-Neglect.

Not sure if this counts as a sign... However, it is interesting as hell regardless.
 
Trousseau's sign is pretty swell.

The tetany one, not the other one.


Also, in instances where your pt drives a heavily modded small or girly car that has been made louder than the sun via the removal of the muffler or the addition of a sub woofer, any responsible medical provider should look for a Mark Morton sign and if found, the patient should be made aware of it immediately in order to prevent further compensatory behaviour.
 
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