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How to examine a joint (look, feel, move)

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Every joint exam uses the same pattern: look, feel, move, then special tests. Always compare with the other side.

Step by step

  1. Prepare

    Clean your hands, introduce yourself, get consent, ask where it hurts and expose both joints. [1]

  2. Look

    Swelling, redness, deformity, muscle wasting, scars and posture. [1]

  3. Feel

    Temperature with the back of your hand, tenderness along the joint line and bones, swelling or fluid, crepitus. [1]

  4. Move: active

    Ask the patient to move the joint through its full range and watch for pain. [1]

  5. Move: passive

    Move it gently yourself and compare. Pain on both suggests the joint; pain only on active suggests muscles or tendons. [1]

  6. Strength

    Test against resistance on a 0 to 5 scale. [1]

  7. Function and nerves

    Gait, grip or daily tasks; pulses, sensation and movement below the joint. [1]

  8. Record

    Write findings by look, feel and move, with both sides. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

37 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
  2. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint. Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.