Bounce Home Test

Original Editor - Lilian Ashraf
Top Contributors - Lilian Ashraf and Chelsea Mclene

Purpose[edit | edit source]

The bounce home test is used to test the integrity of the menisci. [1]

Technique[edit | edit source]

With the patient supine, the therapist holds the patient’s heel of the foot with his hand and then passively flexes the knee. The knee is then passively allowed to extend. The knee should be able to fully extend “bounce home” with a sharp end feel.

The test is positive if full extension of the knee is not complete or has a rubbery end feel indicating a torn meniscus or other intra-articular pathology.

There have been 2 modifications on the bounce home test in the literature. The first modification described by Oni, named the knee jerk test. In it the knee is extended forcibly and pain occurs in the area of tissue injury.

The second modification was described by Shybut and McGinty, a modification of simply forced knee hyperextension. The test is positive when there is a blocking of forced hyperextension. [2]

[3]


Evidence[edit | edit source]

There are currently no studies investigating the sensitivity, specificity or diagnostic accuracy of the bounce home test as described originally.

The bounce home test as described by Shybut and McGinty has sensitivity of 47%, a specificity of 67% and a diagnostic accuracy of 51%.

The knee jerk test which is described by Oni has not been investigated. [2]

Resources[edit | edit source]

Other tests for the knee menisci include:

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Dutton M, Magee D, Hengeveld E, Banks K, Atkinson K, Coutts F, Hassenkamp AM. Orthopaedic examination, evaluation, and intervention. McGraw-Hill Medical; 2004.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Chivers MD, Howitt SD. Anatomy and physical examination of the knee menisci: a narrative review of the orthopedic literature. The journal of the canadian chiropractic association. 2009 Dec;53(4):319.
  3. CRTechnologies. Bounce Home Test (CR). Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8ayJyuMsiE [last accessed 6/5/2021]