Hoover test

Hoover test

If the patient is making an honest effort, the examiner should feel the "normal" limb's heel extending (pushing down) against his or her hand as the patient tries to flex (raise) the "weak" leg's hip. Feeling this would indicate an organic cause of the paresis. If the examiner does not feel the "normal" leg's heel pushing down as the patient flexes the hip of the "weak" limb, then this suggests functional weakness (sometimes called "conversion disorder"), i.e. that effort is not being transmitted to either leg