Background: Leg pain is common and neuropathy (nerve disease) is one reason which probably is under diagnosed. Bimanual (bilateral) nerve palpation and sensory test with spurs has been shown to be quite reliable. Furthermore, the tests are straight forward detecting nerve disease but have not been tested on a healthy population.
Purpose: The purpose was to investigate whether peripheral nerve palpation in fossa poplitea induces pain/discomfort, and if side difference exists in a sensibility test with spurs on the lower leg in healthy subjects.
Method: A bimanual palpation test of the tibial and peroneal nerve in fossa poplitea and also a bimanual sensibility test with spurs of dermatome L4, L5 and S1 on the lower leg were carried out. In order to find healthy subjects a purposive sampling was made. A total of 37 subjects between 20 and 57 years with a median age of 23 participated in the study.
Results: At the palpation test the intensity of pain/discomfort had a median of 1 (range 3) in the 11 degrees of pain scale. A large part estimated differences between the sides in both the palpation test (11 of 37) and the sensibility test with spur (25 of 37). There was no significant difference between the sexes.
Conclusion: When performing these nerve tests it is important to keep in mind that even healthy individuals might perceive some pain/discomfort as well as side difference. However, we need more studies to confirm these results.