Types
Why the Doctor Presses Your Belly
Your doctor is trained to examine the human body to help find problems. When your doctor presses on your belly, they may get clues to possible problems.
This exam with the hands gives doctors information about important parts of the body. These are the liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, stomach, pancreas, bladder, gallbladder, appendix, and the abdominal aorta. This aorta is the main blood vessel from your heart to your legs. In women, the exam can also give information about the uterus and ovaries.
When your doctor presses on your belly, they are feeling to see if any of these organs are enlarged or painful. That might be a sign of problems that need more assessment.
There are two ways doctors look at your belly:
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Palpation
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Percussion
Sometimes, talking to you about your symptoms along with a physical exam is all that is needed to make a diagnosis. Sometimes, you may need more exams or testing to confirm what the problem may be.
Palpation
Palpation means pushing down to see if the organs can be felt. For example, the aorta that supplies blood to the lower limbs of the body runs directly beneath the bellybutton. It should be only an inch wide. If it's wider than that, you could have a problem, such as an aneurysm.
Your doctor also looks for tenderness or pain that you might feel when they briefly push in and then quickly lift their hands off your stomach. Such pain means that the membrane that lines the belly cavity is inflamed and is a sign of a surgical emergency. This often happens when the appendix is diseased. It also happens when the bowel has a hole, or you have inflammation in the lining of the belly.
Your doctor can often feel whether certain internal organs, such as the liver, spleen, or uterus, are larger than normal. The next step is finding the reason for the enlargement. It may possibly be disease.
Percussion
Percussion means tapping the belly and listening to the tone of different sounds. When a doctor taps just below the rib cage, they can hear the sounds made by a normal liver. Similar sounds heard when tapping beyond where the liver should be could be a sign of an enlarged liver. Percussion can sometimes find fluid in the belly cavity. This is often from heart, liver, or kidney disease.
Author: Ciccone, Alvin M.D.
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