Temperature:

Often omitted if pain sensation is normal because BOTH pain and temperature travel through the spinothalamic pathway.

Use a tuning fork heated or cooled by water and ask the patient to identify "hot" or "cold."

Test the following areas:

1. Shoulders (C4)
2. Inner and outer aspects of the forearms (C6 and T1)
3. Thumbs and little fingers (C6 and C8)

Finally...

• Assess the functional ability of the hands (lifting a cup or doing up a button).
• Thank the patient for allowing you to examine them.

Back to Start of Neurological Examination of the arm
or
List of other Examinations