Why Can Back Pain Be Difficult To Diagnose At Times?

There are millions of people who suffer from back pain all over the world. In case you are one of those who have also been suffering from back pain, you must be well-aware how tough it is to handle that pain, ascertain the cause of the back problem and eventually find the correct treatment to cure you. The problem is until and unless the correct cause is determined, you do not know what kind of treatment will work for you. It is clear that proper diagnosis and correct treatment plan are strongly correlated. So it is imperative for you to learn some of those facts due to which it can be difficult to diagnose your back pain. Here are some of those big reasons for which your back pain can be difficult to cure and diagnose:

Challenges related to diagnostics

As far as the diagnostic tests are concerned, there can be various issues. The most prominent among them is that the accurate cause of your back pain cannot be ascertained from a single diagnostic test. Hence there are several diagnostic tests whose value can be limited. There is some test whose results can even be controversial. But that does not dignify that your back condition cannot be accurately diagnosed by your medical professional. For instance, there are some common conditions such as a lumbar herniated disc, which can result in sciatica symptoms, are quick to diagnose and there is accuracy in diagnosis through different tests, image scans and questions. However, the very reason that at times a single diagnostic test lacks adequacy to determine the correct cause is self-explanatory. Perhaps, that is the reason, why many times different medical practitioners come up with different diagnoses.

Trial and error

You should make a note that though the root cause of your back pain has been determined, it does not essentially mean that a proper treatment plan is dictated. There can be multiple ways for treating your back related problem. At times finding what kind of treatment works for you can be derived through trial and error method. For instance, while some people find that epidural steroid injections can cure their leg pain due to a disc problem. There are others may find that the same injection is not causing any type of pain relief. Thus, it is crucial that you are in close contact with your physician. You need to be honest, and clear about the symptoms you are experiencing and how effective the different treatments are.

Experience can be subjective

The degree of pain may vary from individual to individual. While one person may experience mild pain, it can be overwhelming for some other person. Thus, it suggests that though two persons may suffer from the same condition, there could be entirely different levels and types of treatment for various people. For instance, over-the-counter drugs may alleviate pain for a majority of people with the back condition. However, you may have had a subjective experience that has made you realize to go for a more robust medical treatment plan for getting relief from your acute pain.

You may get less sleep due to your back pain

There have been several cases where it has been observed that people who experience chronic pain complain of lack of sleep. Now, this symptom can be quite an agony for you as when you sleep less, your pain can get worse. When the pain becomes more, it becomes tough to sleep. This also signifies that it can be tough to get your chronic back condition treated as you have to undergo treatment for your sleep problem as well as your back pain. It can be a tricky proposition as you have to go for permutation and combination for undergoing two simultaneous treatment plan parallels.

One of our main providers, Dr. Steven Beschak, is a fellow for regenerative medicine, which is a new pain management therapy using stem cell research and applications. Consult with one of our providers today to see if your back pain makes you a candicate for stem cell therapy to improve your back pain symptoms!

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