Back pain is known as a notoriously difficult type of pain to diagnose. It’s why adolescent idiopathic scoliosis remains undetected in some patients for many years until the curve starts to increase. To accurately diagnose the root cause of back pain may require time and expertise. It also demands collaboration between medical professionals, including primary care doctors, orthopedics, physiotherapists, and physiatrists, to name a few.
Here are a few challenges that make diagnosing back pain so tricky:
1. It can be challenging to identify the specific source of pain
There are many potential underlying causes of back pain. It can be due to problems within the anatomical structures such as vertebral bones, back muscles, spinal nerve roots, and/or abdominal organs. It may also be influenced by stress, anxiety, and/or depression. The presence of a combination of problems makes identifying the exact cause of back pain difficult. For instance, a patient could be diagnosed with spinal stenosis and a herniated disc at the same time. The pain may originate from either of these conditions.
2. Limited value of diagnostic tests for back pain
No diagnostic test can offer an accurate back pain diagnosis. They often have limited value, and some may provide false-negative or false-positive results. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean your back condition can’t be diagnosed by a medical professional. There are available clinical tests and imaging scans that can confirm common conditions like lumbar herniated disc, quickly and accurately. But the inadequacy of diagnostic tests for back pain explains why patients receive different diagnoses from different physicians.
3. Pain is a personal experience for each individual
Pain is subjective and varies from person to person. What may be mild pain to one patient can feel debilitating to another. More so, the same condition can require different levels of treatment for different people. For a common back condition, over-the-counter medication and/or exercise may be enough to alleviate the pain. However, a patient’s subjective experience may dictate a more robust treatment plan to ease the pain, such as quality bracing for scoliosis or an epidural steroid injection.
4. A person’s lifestyle could be a hidden cause
In most cases, a patient may receive an accurate diagnosis and prescribed a specific treatment plan, but the back pain remains the same or worsens over time. The hidden cause may be poor lifestyle choices, including smoking, insufficient sleep, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol intake, and/or consuming inflammatory foods. Psychosocial factors can also add to existing back pain. That is why back pain scoliosis treatment plans require a total lifestyle overhaul involving proper exercise and a healthy diet.
Whether you’re struggling with chronic back pain or just mild aches and pains, you can rely on the highly-qualified experts at NorAlign Center. We are offering pain management services that aim to understand your issue’s root cause so it can relieve the pain as quickly as possible. We also provide spinal therapy, orthopedics, as well as pilates in rehabilitation. For more information, call +971 4 340 0017 today!