# Penis pointing: how/why does Throckmorton's sign in urology work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 2, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716 "2016-05-02T22:29:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/1 "2016-05-02T22:29:01Z")
See query: [Throckmorton's sign](http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3050.html) I have no access to the cites listed there. Also known as John Thomas sign: position of penis on abdominal x-ray indicates side of unilateral disease. Also: band name. Or new national craze. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/2 "2016-05-02T23:12:47Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See query: [Throckmorton's sign](http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3050.html) > > I have no access to the cites listed there. > > Also known as John Thomas sign: position of penis on abdominal x-ray indicates side of unilateral disease. > > Also: band name. Or new national craze. Notice what I bolded in a quote from your link: > [@](#): > > Throckmorton’s sign is a \*\*slang term used jokingly \*\*by medical students and residents. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/3 "2016-05-02T23:31:51Z")
Why does pushing away cause it to push back ? It worked better for young men (less than middle age) presumably because the inflammation of the hip joint was also causing an erection. Perhaps because there’s a young female nurse doing the xray through their pelvis… But it works because the inflammation pushes the base, and there’s an attachment at the pubis. This attachment is causing the turning. If the base goes that way, the external bit goes the other way. Remember the surgery for obese men’s “shrinkage” (can’t extend far enough to get past all that fat) is to cut that attaching ligament, so that it can be an erection downward… ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/4 "2016-05-03T02:55:31Z")
**Isilder** , good try but no. Never an erection unless also serious brain/spinal injury. If the penis points (more like lays) to the opposite direction, it is simply referred to as a **negative** Throckmorton’s sign. It is a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/5 "2016-05-03T03:43:12Z")
OP here. I honestly thought it was … well, not an out right joke, but some sort of occasional but not random occurrence; I couldn’t tell from the page. Throckmorton is not a name x-ray techs woukd come across was my initial reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/6 "2016-05-03T13:29:33Z")
I wonder if Tom Bentley Throckmorton was related to the Throckmortons of Coughton Court, a couple of miles away from my house. They were Catholics at a time when that was dangerous in England. The Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes et al) was supposedly hatched at the house. [http://www.coughtoncourt.co.uk/index.php?option=com\_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=18](http://www.coughtoncourt.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=18) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penis-pointing-how-why-does-throckmortons-sign-in-urology-work/753716/7 "2016-05-03T13:46:52Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > See query: [Throckmorton's sign](http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/3050.html) > > I have no access to the cites listed there. > > Also known as John Thomas sign: position of penis on abdominal x-ray indicates side of unilateral disease. > > Also: band name. Or new national craze. I can just imagine some interns making up a new sign pointing to **Urology** , maybe using one of the apotropaic phallus carvings from Pompeii: [https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;\_ylt=A0LEV2B0qyhXxaQATLVXNyoA;\_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Pompeii+Phallus+On+Building&fr=yfp-t-201#id=2&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkendrastravels.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fla-bellitalia-759.jpg&action=click](https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEV2B0qyhXxaQATLVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Pompeii+Phallus+On+Building&fr=yfp-t-201#id=2&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkendrastravels.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fla-bellitalia-759.jpg&action=click)