Cranial Nerves Were All "Normal"

Today, we venture beyond the usual clinical vignettes and into the art of examination itself. In honor of Dr. Heinrich Quincke—who, in August 1891, performed the world’s first lumbar puncture in Kiel, Germany— we celebrate the neurological exam by revisiting a phrase uttered all too casually:

“Cranial nerves were all normal.”

But what do we really mean when we say that?

To help us find out, I’m joined by my Padawan Donald—tall, confident, and emphatically surgical— whose certainty about cranial nerves rivals his enthusiasm for making things “great again.”

Together, we’ll dissect the subtle clues, clinical pearls, and centuries-old history that make the cranial nerve exam so much more than a throwaway line on morning rounds.