Veterinary Clinical Medicine-I (General and Systemic)

PERCUSSION

• The diagnostic procedure in which the examining veterinary physician uses both hearing and tactile senses is known as percussion.
• Percussion and auscultation are intimately associated with the production of sound. 
• Percussion is a physical method of examination in which, by means of striking a part of the body, it is possible to obtain information about the condition of the tissues and, more particularly, the deeper lying parts.
•  Percussion must be as far as possible carried out on standing animals, as the recumbent position with the chest resting on a firm base will change the percussion sound and thus be the cause of inaccuracy in judgement.
• By knocking directly with fingers on any part of the body, for example; thorax, only a faint sound is produced. Therefore, tapping on an  firm body called pleximeter is generally used.