Nowadays, medical technology is changing rapidly and various medical examinations have been developed, from the earliest X-rays to today’s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) examinations, which have greatly improved the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Some people say that nowadays, doctors see patients in the fixed mode of “blood sampling + examination”, and with this fixed mode, they can have a clear diagnosis of the disease, without having to go into details of the patient’s examination and physical examination. Let’s look at the following case: Female, 65 years old, in December 2009, the patient presented with low back pain and numbness in the right lower limb. In January of this year, the symptoms gradually worsened, with numbness in both lower extremities, and then weakness in walking, and an MRI examination at a local hospital showed “lumbar 4/5 disc herniation and spinal stenosis” (see Figure 1) (Figure 1) The patient then underwent a series of conservative treatments locally, including traction, massage, acupuncture, etc., but the symptoms did not improve significantly. As the treatment was ineffective, the patient went to Beijing to seek better treatment, and was transferred to the outpatient clinics of major hospitals, all of which considered the diagnosis unobjectionable and recommended inpatient surgery. The patient finally consulted our hospital and was given routine examinations after admission. Based on the patient’s previous MRI examination of the lumbosacral spine and the patient’s previous history of low back pain and numbness and weakness in walking of both lower extremities, the diagnosis seemed to be unobjectionable on the surface. However, we did not ignore the importance of basic physical examination, and after admission, we still gave the patient a comprehensive and detailed examination and carefully determined the patient’s skin sensation, at which time we found that the patient’s skin sensation was significantly diminished below the level of the right about rib arch, and the pathological signs of bilateral lower extremities were positive. For this patient, the symptoms were only likely to occur in the lower extremities and not to progress to the rib cage of the chest, and in conjunction with some additional physical examination of the patient, it occurred to us that the cause of the patient should be in the thoracic spine rather than the lumbar spine. ). This was a perfect match to what we had previously considered. (Figure 2) “Spinal meningioma” is a benign tumor that can be removed intact. With a clear diagnosis, the right treatment is available, and the patient has now completed the tumor resection in neurosurgery and is recovering well from his symptoms to the satisfaction of himself and his family. As one of the basic techniques of doctors, physical examination is an indispensable means of examination. By treating each patient with detailed examination and physical examination, we can ensure that each patient is diagnosed correctly and the most reliable treatment can be given to the patient.