‘LoCoMoCo’
A complete symptom has four aspects:

Location: the part of the body affected.

Complaint: (Sensation/Description): how the problem feels subjectively and/or looks objectively.

Modalities: what makes the complaint better or worse.

Concomitants: associated complaints, e.g., with the menses there is headache and dizziness.


The Bönninghausen Hexameter
Who? (the patient: sex, age)

What? (the complaints)

Where? (the location)

Why? (causation)

When? (time of appearance; time of aggravation and amelioration. Also, the sequence of events.)

Modalities (modifying influences)

Concomitant (accessory) symptoms.

To simplify, we can condense the above seven into 4:

Location
Complaint
Modalities
Concomitants



As a mnemonic it can be shortened to:

‘LoCoMoCo’

"Complaint" or "What?" can be both subjective and objective.

Subjective: "I have a burning pain." or "I feel sad."

Objective: "I have a ulcer with a red rim and green pus is coming out of it.". It could also refer to what the physician observes as in the color of the face , the sound of the cough, the manner of breathing, weird behavior, uncoordinated movements, etc.