Position of Patient
This varies widely according to circumstances but for general purposes use position:
(A) Place patient on stool, feet even on floor and body in an easy, relaxed position. This may be modified by asking him to lean forward and rest elbows on knees, evenly, to facilitate Lumbar palpation. Patient’s head may be erect or flexed forward or backward but should never be rotated or laterally flexed during Cervical palpation except for the purpose of locating some particular transverse process.
(B) In emergency cases, where haste is urgent or patient is unable to assume a sitting posture, or as a means of re-verifying previous palpation, place the patient on adjusting table prone, face down. (See [Fig. 2].) Remember that with the head lying upon its side the upper dorsal vertebrae will assume a curve with its convexity away from the face. Palpation in position (B) should precede every adjustment and, to guard against error, should be considered as a necessary preliminary to the movement of any vertebra.
(C) For palpation preparatory to using the Rotary, the Break, and other moves, have patient lying on his back with his head projecting beyond upper end of bench and resting on the hands and wrists of the palpater, or have the patient’s head rest on the bench, a less accessible position.