Doctors tap on your abdomen as a way to assess the size of your internal organs and check for any fluid in your abdominal cavity as well as to evaluate other health conditions.
Tapping on your abdomen can help the doctor determine the size of the liver, check for fluid in the abdominal cavity and even check for renal tenderness.
When a doctor taps the right and left costal vertebral angles while you're sitting up it can help determine renal tenderness.
When a doctor taps on the abdomen it can also detect any fluid in your abdominal cavity which can be caused by liver disease, kidney disease and heart disease.
When a doctor taps just below the rib cage it can help determine the size of your liver and if similar sounds are heard when tapping beyond your liver's normal location it can indicate an enlarged liver.
When your doctor presses on your belly, the doctor can get clues to possible problems.
This exam with the hands gives doctors information about important parts of the body which are the liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, stomach, pancreas, bladder, gallbladder, appendix, and the abdominal aorta.
Pressing on your stomach is a way to find out if the size of your internal organs is normal, to check if anything hurts, and to feel if anything unusual is going on.
Looking, listening, and feeling are all part of a physical exam.
When a doctor taps (percusses) the abdomen, the fluid makes a dull sound.
If the person's abdomen is swollen because the intestines are distended with gas, the tapping makes a hollow sound.