Chapter 35: Assessment of Musculoskeletal Function
A client is experiencing muscle weakness in the upper extremities. The client raises an arm above the head but then loses the ability to maintain the position. Muscular dystrophy is suspected. Which diagnostic test would evaluate muscle weakness or deterioration?
An electromyography
Which is useful in identifying acute or chronic tears of the joint capsule or supporting ligaments of the knee, shoulder, ankle, hip, or wrist?
Arthrography
Which is an indicator of neurovascular compromise?
Capillary refill more than 3 seconds
Which is a neurovascular problem caused by pressure within a muscle area that increases to such an extent that microcirculation diminishes?
Compartment Syndrom
The client presents with an exaggeration of the lumbar spine curve. How does the nurse interpret this finding?
Lordosis
Which of the following deformity causes a exaggerated curvature of the lumbar spine?
Lordosis
After a person experiences a closure of the epiphyses, which statement is true?
No further increase in bone length occurs.
An instructor is describing the process of bone development. Which of the following would the instructor describe as being responsible for the process of ossification?
Osteoblast
After a fracture, during which stage or phase of bone healing is devitalized tissue removed and new bone reorganized into its former structural arrangement?
Remodeling
A client has a fracture that is being treated with open rigid compression plate fixation devices. What teaching will the nurse reinforce to the client about how the progress of bone healing will be monitored?
Serial x-rays will be taken.
The nurse is conducting a musculoskeletal assessment on a client documented to have rheumatoid arthritis. Which would the nurse anticipate finding when inspecting the client's fingers?
Soft, subcutaneous nodules along the tendons
An example of a flat bone is the
Sternum
A client experiences a musculoskeletal injury that involves the structure that connects a muscle to the bone. The nurse understands that this injury involves which structure?
Tendon
A client is seen in the emergency room for a knee injury that happened during a basketball game. Diagnostic tests reveal torn cords of fibrous connective tissue that connect muscles to bones. What type of tear has this client sustained?
Tendon
The emergency room nurse is reporting the location of a fracture to the client's primary care physician. When stating the location of the fracture on the long shaft of the femur, the nurse would be most correct to state which terminology locating the fractured site?
The fracture is on the diaphysis.
A client is recovering from a fractured hip. What would the nurse suggest that the client increase intake of to facilitate calcium absorption from food and supplements?
Vitamin D
Which term refers to the shaft of the long bone?
diaphysis
The nurse is screening children for scoliosis. What nursing assessment finding is indicative of scoliosis?
lateral curvature of the spine
Each bone is composed of cells, protein matrix, and mineral deposits. Which type of bone cell works to repair a bone fracture?
osteocytes
Which assessment finding would cause the nurse to suspect compartment syndrome in the client following a bone biopsy?
Increased diameter of the calf
Which of the following is an appropriate priority nursing diagnosis for the client following an arthrocentesis?
Risk for infection
The nurse is preparing the client with a right neck mass for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Which question should the nurse ask? Select all that apply.
"Are you wearing any jewelry?" "Have you removed your hearing aid?" "Do you have a pacemaker?"
A client undergoes an arthroscopy at the outpatient clinic. After the procedure, the nurse provides discharge teaching. Which response by the client indicates the need for further teaching?
"I should use my heating pad this evening to reduce some of the pain in my knee."
The nurse is preparing the client for computed tomography. Which information should be given by the nurse?
"You must remain very still during the procedure."
A nurse practitioner assesses a patient's movement in his left hand after a cast is removed. The nurse asks the patient to turn his wrist so the palm of his hand is facing up. This movement is known as:
Supination
A nurse provides nutritional health teaching to an adult client who had two fractures in 1 year. Besides recommending supplemental calcium, the nurse suggests a high-calcium diet. What would the nurse recommend that the client increase intake of?
Yogurt and cheese
The nurse is conducting a musculoskeletal assessment of a client in a nursing home. The client is unable to dorsiflex the right foot or extend the toes. The nurse evaluates this finding as an injury to which nerve?
Peroneal
The nurse is conducting a medication reconciliation with a client admitted with a fracture. What medication predisposes a client for a risk for fractures?
Prednisone
A patient has a fracture of the right femur sustained in an automobile accident. What process of fracture healing does the nurse understand will occur with this patient?
Reactive phase, reparative phase, remodeling phase
The nurse is performing an assessment on an older adult patient and observes the patient has an increased forward curvature of the thoracic spine. What does the nurse understand this common finding is known as?
Kyphosis
