Introduction

Viva is like playing a game. The candidate should know the subject well, have a game plan and should know the opponent (who has been bored by the previous unchallenging candidates). A candidate who asks clever questions and answers appropriately will gain control (over the examiner) making it a rewarding 5 minutes (for both examiner and candidate) and more importantly will score highly in the viva. An examiner relishes a candidate who takes control and makes his life easy.

Avoid guess work. Avoid talking generally about the shoulder conditions to fill the time if your aim is to score well. A targeted question or answer will take you far.

Again I must stress the importance of time management in viva, as you have got only 5 minutes to score either 8 or 4.

The main aim of this chapter is to express the importance of the viva techniques and therefore it is not written as a textbook. Analyse the good as well as the poor techniques illustrated in the scenarios and follow the ones you find useful.

Shoulder

In a shoulder structured oral question try to analyse the question according to its presentation. Broadly, the shoulder pathology could be classified as painful, weak, stiff or unstable conditions. Shoulder pathology varies with different age groups and therefore you should have a list of age-related diagnoses clear in your mind, which will be helpful in the viva. There can be overlaps of these conditions, for example a painful stiff shoulder may represent frozen shoulder or acute calcific tendonitis. Therefore candidates should have a list of conditions and one or two classic questions to differentiate one from another, to lead into the scenario comfortably right from the start.