It is essential for your peace of mind and your bank account to know that you are not likely to get a highly specific diagnosis for neck, upper or lower back pain. In fact, nine times out of ten you will not get the same diagnosis from two different practitioners.
Fortunately, though, this has little bearing on what you can do to improve your condition. Fortunately, too, there is widespread agreement among neck and back pain sufferers as to which self-help and professional treatments are best at offering some back pain relief.
All this having been said, it is still useful to know about the kinds of diagnoses and back pain exercises you are likely to receive from various practitioners. At the very least, this knowledge can keep you off the treatment treadmill.
If you see a medical doctor for neck pain, you will probably be told you have cervical strain, muscle strain, cervical derangement or a pinched nerve. If your pain started straight after an accident, whiplash will probably also be mentioned. Just what in your neck is strained, deranged, pinched or whiplashed? And to what extent? With implications for what treatment? It is a rare doctor who can answer these questions.
If you see a chiropractor for neck pain, your diagnosis will probably be misalignment, vertebrae displacement or subluxation. To the uncommon extent that chiropractors agree with doctors, they may both attribute your pain to a pinched nerve.
Congenital birth defects such as incompletely formed vertebrae are also popular diagnoses among chiropractors. And no matter what diagnosis you get from a chiropractor, it is likely to be ‘pointed out’ to you on your X-rays.
Of course, there are cases where the need for a specific diagnosis is critically important. This is especially true if you are a neck pain sufferer with a ‘treatment-specific’ problem, such as a ruptured cervical disc, fractured cervical vertebra, infection, arthritis or tumor.
Of the 36 US survey participants whose experiences are recounted in the report, 1 had a fractured cervical vertebra, 2 had ruptured cervical discs and 1 had a benign tumor; the remaining survey participants had more general diagnoses.
Tags:
back pain relief,
cervical strain,
congenital birth defects,
lower back pain,
pain sufferer,
pinched nerve,
professional treatments