Posts Tagged ‘Diagnosis’
Hip-Spine vs Spine-Hip vs Both – 3 Case Examples Lessons Learned
An 80-year-young woman visited her primary care physician with “pain going down my leg”. She had difficulty grocery shopping, picking up her small dog. X-rays showed osteoarthritis in her lumbar spine, and she was diagnosed with “sciatica.” The doctor referred her to a spine surgeon, who ordered an MRI and gave her an x-ray-guided spinal…
Read MoreMusculoskeletal pain which are important steps which are less important?
Thesis: Choosing a diagnosis is an early step in solving non-traumatic muscle and bone pain problems. A diagnosis helps guide treatment, predict how problems will progress, and improve communication. A diagnosis has many functions, including direction for intervention to solve problems, predicting how problems will progress, and assisting in communication. Antithesis: Medical terminology is notoriously…
Read MorePath of least resistance is not always the best option – sometimes it is better to have some stiffness
There are three possible relationships between movement and musculoskeletal pain syndromes. There is either too much movement, not enough movement, or an optimal amount of movement. When a muscle tendon unit and/or joint is flexible, hypermobile, or unstable there is too much movement. When a muscle tendon unit and/or joint is stiff or hypomobile there…
Read MoreIntellectual humility and tolerance for ambiguity
When dealing with musculoskeletal pain syndromes uncertainty and ambiguity can cause unease and frustration for both patients and clinicians. The goal is to stamp out uncertainty, but not to stamp out ambiguity. Ambiguity may contain uncertainty. But they are different. Uncertainty is something that is not clearly or precisely determined, something unknown. Uncertainty implies that…
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