REFERENCE · DIAGNOSIS
Diagnostic Techniques Index
This index links explanations of symptom assessment, positive clinical findings and their interpretation.
A positive sign is more than a normal test or the absence of another diagnosis. It is a recognizable feature—such as internal inconsistency, incongruence or preserved function under particular conditions—that supports a functional diagnosis in the right clinical setting. No page is a do-it-yourself diagnostic test, and no single sign should be used outside the wider history and examination.
Each numbered symptom overview begins with Refers to and a scope boundary. Symptoms can appear in more than one category, but the method must match the actual appearance. A sign for unilateral leg weakness does not become a sign for facial droop, bilateral paralysis or a sudden fall merely because all may be described as “weakness.” Where no appearance-specific validated technique was located, the page says so.
Start with the shared diagnostic explanations, or choose a symptom below. Each symptom overview links to its detailed assessment pages and full inventory.
Required time-course coverage
The history includes what happens over time as well as what is visible during an appointment: onset, duration, fluctuation, associated symptoms and recovery. A brief examination and the person’s experience between appointments provide different information. The symptom pages explain relevant changes that need reassessment and link to separate recovery guidance.
Expansion structure
Symptom overviews introduce the assessment and its everyday context. Detailed technique pages explain selected clinical comparisons. Inventories preserve the wider set of observations, criteria and investigations; an inventory entry is not automatically a validated test.
Pages in this collection
Each page has a linked Diagnostic techniques at a glance section. These are brief, cited inventories for staged human review, not home-testing instructions. Detailed pages are available for selected assessments in every symptom set. See the collection guide for an overview.
- Functional limb weakness
- Functional tremor
- Functional jerks or myoclonus — EEG–EMG assessment; nine-entry inventory.
- Functional Tics and Tic-Like Symptoms — history and motor–vocal assessment, criteria and uncertainty, measurement and everyday function, nine-entry inventory.
- Functional dystonia or fixed posturing — pattern-based assessment; inventory with dated research addition.
- Functional gait disorder — sign-based comparison; swivel-chair assessment; thirteen-entry inventory.
- Functional seizures — typical-event video-EEG; smartphone video; whole-event semiology; twenty-entry inventory.
- Functional Sensory Symptoms — expanded overview, sensory mapping, splitting-sign limitations and the preserved seven-entry inventory.
- Functional Visual Symptoms — expanded overview, acuity and fogging, field comparisons, optokinetic response and the preserved thirteen-entry inventory.
- Functional Speech and Voice Symptoms — expanded overview, cross-task comparison, stuttering and prosody, voice/laryngeal assessment and the preserved eight-entry inventory.
- Functional Swallowing Symptoms and Globus — expanded overview, clinical assessment, FEES/VFSS, globus and oesophageal criteria and the preserved seven-entry inventory.
- Functional Cough and Upper-Airway Symptoms — expanded overview, clinical cough assessment, tic and somatic cough, laryngoscopy and ILO and the preserved seven-entry inventory.
- Functional Cognitive Disorder — clinical assessment, neuropsychology and validity, everyday function and OT measurement, models and checklists and eight original entries plus one dated research addition.
- Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness — criteria and history, vestibular/differential assessment, questionnaires and everyday function, preserved eight-entry inventory.
- Functional Facial Symptoms — Spasm, Droop and Weakness — pattern-based examination, jaw/tongue/mouth assessment, eye symptoms and differential testing, preserved seven-entry inventory.
- Functional Paralysis — Severe Immobility: Assessment and Care Needs, Leg Comparisons in Functional Paralysis, Arm Comparisons in Functional Paralysis, Functional Paralysis Diagnostic Inventory.
- Functional Drop Attacks — event reconstruction, differential assessment, falls impact and follow-up, seven-entry inventory.
Special overlap topic
- Scan-Negative Cauda Equina Presentations — emergency differential and overlap page; a negative compressive scan does not itself diagnose FND, so this page sits outside the 17-presentation diagnostic count.
A note for media contributors
The safest demonstrations usually show what a qualified clinician observes and how the observation is interpreted, not instructions for viewers to diagnose themselves. A proposed video or image should include captions or a transcript, avoid identifiable patient material without documented consent, and state what the demonstration cannot prove. Pages involving seizures, swallowing, breathing, falls or visual provocation need clinical review before filming.
Related pages: Diagnostic techniques · Reference library · Recovery techniques · Research and citation policy
Collection index created: August 25, 2026 · Functional paralysis and drop attacks added: September 2, 2026 · Clinical and accessibility review pending