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Objective: To present a practical overview of the methods and techniques of auscultation of the chest and abdomen for use during the physical examination of athletes. Our intent is to provide information on this clinical technique to assist athletic trainers in recognizing and referring athletes presenting with potentially serious internal organ conditions.
Background: Use of the stethoscope is a clinical skill increasingly necessary for athletic trainers. Given the expanding breadth of both the assessment techniques used by athletic trainers and the populations they care for and the fact that clinical instruction guidelines have changed in the newly adopted National Athletic Trainers' Association Educational Competencies, our goal is to provide a framework upon which future instruction can be based.
Description: This review covers the use of a stethoscope for auscultation of the chest and abdomen. Auscultation of the heart is covered first, followed by techniques for auscultating the breath sounds. Lastly, auscultation of the abdomen describes techniques for listening for bowel sounds and arterial bruits.
Clinical Advantages: During the assessment of injuries to and illnesses of athletes, knowledge of auscultatory techniques is valuable and of increasing importance to athletic trainers. Athletic trainers who do not know how to perform auscultation may fail to recognize, and therefore fail to refer for further evaluation, athletes with potentially serious pathologic conditions.
Key Words: murmurs, vesicular breath sounds, rhonchi, rates, borborygmi, bruits
The athletic training profession continues to grow and diversify. Clinical athletic training education has recently undergone a significant change as described in the newly adopted National Athletic Trainers' Association Educational Competencies.' In addition to the populations that certified athletic trainers (ATCs) work with in the typical scholastic, intercollegiate, and clinical settings, ATCs now are being placed in novel work settings (eg, industrial, secondary school, and performing arts settings) to work with nontraditional and varied populations. Furthermore, these populations (which number in the millions and include children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities) are participating in various forms of exercise training.2 Certified athletic trainers are now serving all age groups of the physically active. As allied health professionals, ATCs are in a position to recognize potentially threatening conditions requiring referral, and, therefore, they need to possess the clinical skills necessary to perform this task.
The use of...