Diagnosing the cause of back pain is a process. It starts with a complete medical history and establishes a pattern of symptoms. It also includes a physical evaluation of movement and nervous system health, as well as appropriate lab work and other diagnostic tests.
Diagnosis: Giving your pain a name
A painful back can be the result of an injury or the consequence of overuse and compensation that damages tissues of the spine.
Sometimes it is obvious what's wrong. Most of the time, it is a process of problem solving. There are many things that can be revealed in testing that might not actually be the root cause of pain. The majority of back pain pathologies are the result of a combination of different problems.
It's extremely important to have a good team of healthcare providers that you can trust. There are very few problems that are quickly and easily fixed. You need to have confidence in the knowledge of what is causing your pain so then you can trust the outcome.
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