Medical Advice from a Back Pain Doc near Me in Clifton

The intensity of the pain

The first thing to evaluate and monitor is the intensity of the pain. Generally speaking, the degree of pain is assessed by how strong the pain signals are perceived by the patient, hence why it may often be subjective. Patients that are more pain-sensitive may experience significant discomfort from something that would normally be described as mild to moderate joint pain, for example.

Because doctors know pain is often difficult to describe in words, they may provide charts or other visual imagery and ask you to explain your pain using those. It is important that you are as accurate as possible, so here is where you can put that pain journal to good use.

How the pain manifests

The level of discomfort may suggest what’s behind it. If the pain is burning, stabbing, or sending tingling sensations down the arms or legs, it might be caused by a compressed or irritated spinal nerve root, a condition known as radiculopathy. Lumbar radiculopathy, commonly known as sciatica pain, is often caused by herniated discs, so that could be a provisional diagnosis before further tests are conducted.

When explaining how the pain feels like, focus on descriptive words. Some examples include sharp, burning, pinching, stabbing, radiating, and pulsating. Discuss severity as well, which can range from mild to moderate, intense or severe, but can also fluctuate.

Make sure to mention if the pain has changed in any way over time. Again, this is where your diary can help. Note down how the symptoms change throughout the day as well, especially in relation to everyday tasks. Sciatica pain, for example, may feel less intense when moving or walking around and can become excruciating when sitting or sleeping.

Where the pain is located

In certain situations, patients may experience pain in a different location than where the issue actually is. When a nerve root is injured, for example, the pain might radiate down an arm or leg, becoming more severe in those regions. So, despite the fact that the pain is caused by an injury to the nerve in the lower back, discomfort is felt in an entirely different region.

This commonly happens in patients that experience myofascial pain syndrome – a condition linked to the muscles and the soft tissue, in which pain radiates from one trigger point to another. Feeling pain in more than one spot at the same time is also possible.

To make sure they understand exactly where the pain is located, the doctor may ask you to indicate the exact region on a body diagram.

Potential pain patterns

Your back pain specialist will also want to understand if your pain follows a specific pattern. For example, does your pain:

• happen gradually or suddenly?
• come and go, or is consistent?
• affect you more at a certain point during the day?

Intermittent pain, for example, is pain that comes and goes, whereas variable pain is pain that is persistent but fluctuates in severity. If pain is moderate but persistent, it is known as background pain, whereas pain that is brief but intense is known as breakthrough pain.

The main reason why doctors assess changes in pain patterns is to track your progress and make sure no further issues arise. Another reason is that knowing this type of information may also help your back doctor determine a suited medication schedule.

Modifications in physical functioning

Pain does come with a set of uncomfortable sensations that are, most of the time, temporary, but it can also become disruptive to your daily life, preventing you from taking part in both work and leisure activities or making even simple tasks such as coughing, or yawning seem like a torment. Make sure to tell your doctor if certain activities have become more difficult to perform due to the pain or if you felt the need to refrain from them entirely.

There is also a psychological level to this situation, which is referred to as self-efficacy. This represents an individual’s ability to evaluate their ability to complete certain tasks. If the doctor considers this to be the case, they may encourage you to overcome these barriers little by little.

If acute or chronic pain is starting to interrupt your everyday life, it is a sure sign you need to schedule an appointment with a back doctor. The pain management specialists at our medical centre use state of the art equipment to help patients find a proper diagnosis and give them access to suitable minimally invasive treatment options. You can finally stop searching for a ‘back pain doc near me in Clifton’ and book an appointment with Dr George Hanna, Dr Laura Lombardi, or Dr Shane Volney in Clifton, on Route 46E, just past the Ford dealership.