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Appendix infection can cause Rovsing’s sign, where pain is felt on the right side of the abdomen when pressure is applied to the left. Doctors also look for other warning signs, including pain near the belly button that shifts to the right side, and five signs of pain during a physical exam. Rovsing’s sign is named after Thorkild Rovsing, who discovered it in 1907.
When the human body suffers an injury or illness then the body can show certain signs which doctors recognize and use to narrow down the possibilities. Appendix infection is a condition that can result in a specific type of marker called Rovsing’s sign. In this situation, a person with appendicitis may experience pain in the right hand area of the abdomen when pressure is applied to the left side.
The appendix is a small, hollow organ that is attached to one end of the large intestine. Functionally, the appendix appears to have no use in modern humans, but is still present as an ancestral remnant. Unfortunately for some people, this empty sac can become infected and if the sac ruptures, it can potentially cause fatal illness.
Most people experience the typical symptoms of appendicitis when suffering from the infection. A pain near the belly button that gets worse quickly is one of the common signs. This pain develops rapidly and the affected person may feel the location of the pain shift to the right side of the abdomen. A minority of people, however, experience different symptoms that feel like constipation or that the pain is coming from a more generalized source, such as an inflamed intestine.
Doctors look for the classic signs of appendicitis when examining a patient, but they also look for other warning signs. If you have abdominal pain, you usually need a physical exam. To do this, doctors feel and press on the patient’s abdomen and look for painful areas. In the case of appendicitis, five signs of pain indicate the presence of the disease.
If a patient tenses the stomach muscles before or at the time the doctor touches them, then this indicates a problem. The muscles themselves can cause pain when moved in a certain way, and the doctor may ask the patient to move the legs in specific ways to see if this occurs. Rovsing’s sign is another test for the presence of appendicitis in the doctor’s repertoire.
To evaluate a patient for Rovsing’s sign, the doctor gently pushes on the left side of the area under the ribs. Patients who experience pain on the opposite side of the abdomen are positive for Rovsing’s sign. Another positive indicator of the sign is if the patient feels pain on the opposite side when the doctor removes the pressure altogether.
This indicator of appendicitis got its name from the man who discovered this diagnostic technique, who was a professor in Sweden named Thorkild Rovsing. Part of a modern doctor’s repertoire of diagnostic tricks, the sign was first noticed in 1907. Not all cases of appendicitis show this sign.
