You may observe distinctive characteristics in a patient’s posture (if they stoop or bend forward or sit slumped in a chair). The posture should be consistent with the presentation of the complaints and the contact established.
Consider a patient with back pain complaints who sits slumping in their chair, or an anxious/suspicious patient, who takes a seat in the middle of a room, without any problem.
Posture only points to pathology if there is an inconsistency between the presentation of the complaints and the way in which the patient moves, behaves, and positions their body. A special form of a postural dysfunction is catatonia, a symptom comprising a number of motor phenomena such as catalepsy, motor mannerisms and stereotypies. This posture anomaly may indicate, for example, schizophrenia of the catatonic type, pervasive developmental disorders, retardation or hysteria.
