Investigation: THE key to becoming a good clinician.

“Discovery consists of seeing whatever everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought” Albert von Szent – Györgyi, 1893 - 1986. The Scientist Speculates (1962)

If the history of the presenting injured athlete is the most important part of the sports medicine examination, then investigation of the information gleaned from the history, will ultimately confirm the diagnosis.  It is true that the diagnosis can often be made as the athlete limps into the office, however, the investigation confirms the preliminary diagnosis, or, perhaps more importantly excludes it.  As such, this discussion could easily be called “diagnostic principles’, but diagnostic principles will always include the history.  In this blog we will focus on those tools available to us to make the diagnosis.