The Neurological Exam

The nervous system plays a role in nearly all body processes. Disease syndromes may affect the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which includes cranial nerves, spinal cord nerve roots, spinal nerves, peripheral nerve branches, and the neuromuscular junction.

Suspicion of neurological dysfunction arises from the history and physical examination. The signalment, presenting chief complaint, time course of clinical signs, and history may suggest the type of disease process or species-specific disorder. A complete neurologic examination is necessary to localize the anatomic distribution, to determine the severity of the disease process, and to assess the prognosis for patient recovery.

A neurological examination is easily integrated into a routine physical examination. The objectives of the neurological examination are to confirm if there is a neurological abnormality and to specifically localize the abnormality within the nervous system. In conjunction with the history, signalment, presenting complaint and the physical examination, the neurological lesion localization is a piece of a jigsaw essential to creating a list of differential diagnoses for the disease. However, caution must be used as some manipulations necessary for the neurological examination could exacerbate problems such as spinal cord disease. […]