Diagnosis of pain states

Abstract

The formation of a medical diagnosis is imperative to enable a clinician to arrive at a suitable treatment for the pain. Localizing the pain and identifying the underlying causes are the primary goals of physician-patient interactions for clinical assessment and diagnosis. Clinicians should be able to first localize the pain and then investigate the underlying causes of the pain. Misdiagnosis is often due to inadequate clinical information, clinician's gap in knowledge and skill set, or the complexity of a particular pain complaint. Differential diagnosis is a key process to minimize misdiagnosis and requires knowledge, skills, and genuine desire to understand the patient's problems. It is common to utilize diagnostic tests and diagnostic blocks to help establish or rule out a diagnosis. In many cases, a trial treatment may be necessary to confirm or refute a working diagnosis.