rebound tenderness
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˈriːbaʊnd ˈtɛndərnəs/
- Specialized
:
signo de Blumberg
- After pressing on the abdomen, the nurse noted rebound tenderness, suggesting a serious underlying issue.
Examples
-
Physical examination revealed significant tachycardia (143/min) with tenderness, guarding, and rebound tenderness in both lower quadrants of the abdomen.
Academic text (2007) -
The doctor checked for rebound tenderness to assess potential abdominal inflammation.
-
Right lower quadrant pain, rebound tenderness—where's that bloodwork?
Fiction book (1993) -
Cannot find the cause; you cannot treat, cannot cure, and I have a very tough battle with the pain, continuing uninterrupted at all times with various pains—tenderness, pain fall, colic, rebound tenderness, pain, pain that cannot breathe.
Blog text (12) -
During the examination, the patient showed signs of rebound tenderness indicating possible appendicitis.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'rebound' (to spring or bounce back) and 'tenderness' (painful sensitivity) suggest a pain related to a rebound action, so a learner could guess a relation between a returning motion and pain. However, the precise clinical sense—pain felt specifically when pressure on the abdomen is suddenly released as a diagnostic sign—is specialized and not fully predictable from the words alone for a B1 learner, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Rebound tenderness comes from a simple check a doctor does: they press on the belly and then suddenly lift their hand. If the belly hurts more when the pressure is released — the pressure seems to rebound and cause tenderness — that pain is a sign of 'inflammation' of the lining of the belly.