Knee
Lachman test
- What you examine
- Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament, assessed at around 20 to 30 degrees of knee flexion.
- Procedure
- Knee at 20 to 30 degrees of flexion. Fix the femur with one hand and pull the tibia forward with the other.
- Positive when
- Increased anterior translation with a soft or absent end feel, compared with the other knee.
- What the test is worth
- The best clinical test for the ACL: sensitivity around 0.85 and specificity around 0.94.
- Caution
- The end feel counts for more than the amount of translation; a large but firmly ending translation can simply be laxity.
- Joint
- Knee joint
- Body region
- Knee