Thread by @TaylorAlanJ

Six reasons to assess the cranial nerves in the MSK clinic.

A thread 🧵

Reason 1.
You assess and manage patients with neck pain/ headache/orofacial symptoms
#Physio #Physiotherapy #PhysicalTherapy

Reason 2.
You routinely assess neurological function when you encounter
1. Distal symptoms in the upper limb
2. Distal symptoms in the lower limb
It is logical therefore to do the same when it comes to the neck/head/face

Reason 3.
You will see patients who complain of post trauma/insidious onset dizziness/nausea/visual disturbances
... which may or may not be linked to CN dysfunction.
CN testing should form part of your routine risk assessment. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34182898/

Reason 4. Normal CN findings will give you the confidence to go on to appropriate further testing, such as vestibular assessment OR Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) assessment.

This may provide you with specific directions for management. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35311725/

Reason 5.
Being able to reproduce the patients dizziness/nausea in the clinic with eye movements alone (without altering neck position) vastly reduces the possibility that you are dealing with a vascular flow limitation/vascular pathology as a source of the patients symptoms⛳️❌

Reason 6.
As #Physiotherapists adopt #FCP #ACP roles, with that comes increasing responsibility to have the appropriate skills to assess this challenging anatomical site.

Time to up-skill if you haven't already 🤔

Get to know the CN's ✅

https://twitter.com/TaylorAlanJ/status/1450529681313185793?s=20&t=vwci1aQDMcuKVfUUukDy0g