percussor

1. (medicine) A small hammer-like tool that a physician uses to provide a light blow to a body part.Examples: "The shaft on which the percussor is fastened is so adjusted that the spring, while expending its force, throws the hammer a little beyond the line of centre, so that the blow is struck lightly and quickly, and the hammer rebounds very much as it strikes and rebounds from the string of a piano when a note is struck on the keyboard."; "A mechanical percussor is ordered to assist with secretion clearnace in a patient receiving CPT."; "Kimberly-Clark manufactures and distributes a small, soft vinyl percussor mounted on a plastic wand designed for neonatal applications (Figure 4-39)."

2. (medicine) A physician who provides light blow to a body part as a diagnostic technique.Examples: "When he has reached this stage, the percussor is an expert, and his ability to produce deceptive effects is his best guarantee that he will not be himself deceived."; "A percussor must be in a mental attitude toward the examined subject that is twofold in character; he knows, or should know, beforehand that there will be certain phenomena of sound that he is sure to discover, and that there are certain other phenomena that it is possible to discover, and that await his intelligent elicitation."; "Percussion is done by cupping the hand so as to allow a cushion of air to come between the percussor's hand and the patient."