The Elbow

Help: Examination

Several resisted movements are positive

There are technical flaws during clinical testing, leading to an erroneous answer. It is therefore advised to follow the described procedures if two or more resisted movements are painful :

Make sure the tests are conducted technically correct.
Pay attention to the exact starting position:
Movements against resistance should never be performed on a passively stretched contractile structure. A typical fault is to perform a resisted extension of the wrist with the wrist in palmar flexion. This always provokes pain.
Make sure to adopt a good starting position of your hands.
A typical failure is to test resisted extension of the elbow with resistance applied to the hand instead of to the distal part of the underarm.
This will not only initiate an action of the triceps but also of the extensors of the wrist..
Test again and again, several times the same movement and compare to the contralateral (normal) side.
Make sure the patient has understood your question and that you are looking for tests that elicit the symptoms or that influence them?