Homan’s sign – What is the purpose, indication and relevance?

Homan’s Sign: Client is supine with the knee fully extended. Practitioner passively dorsiflexes the client’s foot. This is not a commonly used test, as it is not very sensitive or specific for deep vein thrombosis and it could potentially dislodge a deep vein thrombosis in the calf, allowing it to travel to the lung

Purpose:

• Assess for deep vein thrombosis

Indications:

• Suspected DVT

Relevance:

• Positive test – pain in the calf is possible indicative of deep vein thrombosis

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This post was written by Omar Rifai