Physiotherapy Game
One patient, five clues, one diagnosis. Read the complaint, unlock the history and examination findings, and make the call in as few clues as you can.
Physio Game · Daily Diagnosis Puzzle · Clinical Reasoning · 10 Cases
Day 5
What's the diagnosis? · Warm-up
- ComplaintClue 1/5
52-year-old woman. Tingling and numbness in her right thumb, index and middle fingers for 5 months. She often wakes at night and shakes her hand to get the feeling back.
- ActivityUnlocks after guess 1
- HistoryUnlocks after guess 2
- ExaminationUnlocks after guess 3
- TestsUnlocks after guess 4
Wrong guesses and skips unlock the next clue. A yellow square means you picked the right body region.
How to play the physiotherapy game
A case takes two to three minutes. Fewer clues means a better score.
- 1
Read the complaint
Every case opens with the patient's main complaint: age, onset and where it hurts. Make a first guess or skip to the next clue.
- 2
Unlock the next clue
Each wrong guess or skip reveals one more clue: activity, history, examination findings and finally imaging or special tests.
- 3
Read the colours
Green is the diagnosis. Yellow means you picked the right body region. Red means a different region. Use the colour to narrow your next guess.
- 4
Share your result
Solve it in as few clues as you can, read the clinical insight, then copy the link or send it on. The diagnosis stays out of the link.
Correct diagnosis. Case solved. The score is the number of clues you used.
Right region. Wrong diagnosis, but in the same body region as the answer.
Different region. Wrong diagnosis in another region. Rethink where the problem sits.
Skipped. You asked for the next clue without guessing. It still uses a clue.
The five clues, in the order of a real assessment
The clues follow the structure of a physiotherapy assessment: subjective first, objective second, investigations last. Solving a case early means you formed the right hypothesis from the patient's story, which is exactly the skill placement educators want to see.
- 1
Complaint
The presenting problem in the patient's words: location, onset, duration and what made them book. Most hypotheses start here.
- 2
Activity
What the patient does all day and for sport, and which movements provoke or ease the symptoms. Load history is often the deciding clue in tendon and overuse cases.
- 3
History
Past episodes, medical conditions, medication and red-flag screening. This is where you rule things out as much as in.
- 4
Examination
Observation, range of motion, palpation, strength and special tests. A positive cluster here usually separates two similar diagnoses.
- 5
Imaging or tests
Ultrasound, X-ray, MRI or a positional or nerve test. It is the last clue on purpose: most musculoskeletal diagnoses are made clinically first.
All 10 physiotherapy cases
Today's case rotates through the archive every day. Missed one? Play any day below. The region is listed, the diagnosis is not.
Why a diagnosis puzzle trains clinical reasoning
Experienced physiotherapists rarely work through a checklist. They form a few early hypotheses from the patient's story, then use each new piece of information to confirm or drop them. Clinical reasoning research calls this hypothetico-deductive reasoning, and it is the skill a clue-by-clue case makes you practise.
Every guess forces a commitment. That matters, because recalling an answer is a stronger learning event than reading it, and a wrong guess followed by the correct explanation is remembered better than a page of notes. The region colours teach you to move between diagnoses systematically instead of guessing at random.
The game is built for physiotherapy and physical therapy students before placements and OSCEs, new graduates building musculoskeletal pattern recognition, and sports therapists who want a two-minute daily warm-up. Each case ends with a clinical insight and one exam pearl worth keeping.
Physiotherapy game FAQ
What is the physiotherapy game?+
It is a free daily diagnosis puzzle for physiotherapy students and clinicians. You get a short patient case and up to five clues: complaint, activity, history, examination and imaging or tests. Each wrong guess unlocks the next clue, and the goal is to name the diagnosis with as few clues as possible.
Is the physiotherapy game free?+
Yes. Every case is free to play in the browser with no sign-up, no download and no paywall. Your progress is saved on your device.
How does scoring work?+
Your score is the number of clues you needed, from 1 to 5. Solving it at the complaint clue scores 1/5. If you have not made the diagnosis after all 5 clues, the case counts as unsolved (X/5) and the answer is shown with a clinical explanation.
What do the yellow and red tiles mean?+
Yellow means your guess was wrong but in the same body region as the answer, such as another knee condition on a knee case. Red means your guess belongs to a different region. Grey means you skipped. Green means you got it.
Can I play previous days?+
Yes. Use the day selector above the case to switch between all 10 cases in the archive. Finished days are marked, so you can see what is left to play. Today's case rotates through the archive every day.
How do I share my result without spoiling the answer?+
When you finish, the share screen shows your result and a link to that day's case. Copy the link, or send it by email, WhatsApp, X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Reddit. The text and preview image never include the diagnosis, so friends can play the same case.
Is this like Physiodle or Doctordle?+
It uses the same idea of a daily clue-by-clue diagnosis puzzle. This version adds region feedback after every guess, an exam pearl and clinical insight after each case, a day archive and a spoiler-free share card. Lorea is not affiliated with Physiodle or Doctordle.
Which conditions are covered?+
The cases cover common musculoskeletal and neuromuscular presentations across the ankle and foot, knee, hip, lumbar spine, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand, and the vestibular system. The guess list includes 81 diagnoses with common alternative names, so "tennis elbow" and "lateral epicondylalgia" both work.
Are these real patients?+
No. Every case is written for teaching and based on typical textbook presentations, so it can be solved with standard clinical reasoning. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for assessment by a qualified clinician.
Educational cases for practising clinical reasoning. Not medical advice. If you have symptoms, see a qualified clinician.
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