For students of neurology, testing sensation often seems long and laborious. Furthermore, it is rare to identify meaningful sensory signs that are unsuspected from the history. It is therefore important to target the sensory examination and to make it as efficient and as effective as possible.

Most neurologists have long realised that sensory testing (excepting proprioceptive and cortical sensory testing) is best done with the patient's eyes open. In his definitive guide to neurological examination for undergraduates, …