How can a patient tell when the back pain is due to muscular pain or due to a much more serious condition like discogenic pain?
If the patient is lifting something too heavy, jerks and suddenly feels a “pop” in their back with pain shooting down the leg, this is most not muscular pain. This patient should go immediately to a physician speacializing in pain management. The physician will likely examine the patient and perform a straight leg test which will or will not cause pain, obtain a MRI or a CAT scan to actually visualize the discs radiographically, or the physician may perform a electromyogram. This is usually a test performed by a neurologist or a physiatrist that can delineate whether there is an electroconduction problem down the nerve. All of these things – the history, the physical, the MRI testing and the EMG testing – better enable the physician to tell what type of pain the patient is suffering from and what is the etiology of their pain. Once the etiology is accurately obtained, then and only then can the physician form a treatment plan which is proper for that patient.
