Ace the 2026 Ortho-Psych-Endocarditis Exam – Flex Your Medical Muscles!

The Thessaly test is a provocative, weight-bearing maneuver designed to stress the meniscus. The patient stands on one leg and twists the knee while it’s flexed at two small angles (about 5 degrees and then 20 degrees). Recreating tearing forces in a loaded knee makes a meniscal tear more likely to reproduce pain, locking, or a sense of grinding, which is why this test is particularly useful for detecting meniscal pathology.

This test is considered to have higher sensitivity and specificity for meniscal tears than some other clinical tests, such as McMurray, because the weight-bearing twist at two different flexion angles more accurately reproduces the mechanical environment that tears the meniscus. It’s not a test for ACL injuries, MCL injuries, or patellofemoral tracking disorders, which are assessed with other specific maneuvers.