Why can back pain be difficult to diagnose (and why shouldn't you trawl Dr Google for answers)?

The need to get more information before diagnosing.

You might at first think you do not need testing and just need treatment, cures, pills or potions. But, properly understanding what is going on is essential to ensure you’re getting the best care and are not wasting your money on things that won’t serve you. There are too many variables for a one size fits all approach.

Chiropractic is effective at helping back pain. We know this and it is evidenced and well documented as such. However, even with these higher levels of support, adjustments are never applied without a full rationale for care and knowledge that it is safe to do so.

Back pain is not a diagnosis on its own.

Back pain in itself is not a diagnosis but a symptom.

There can be many causes of back pain. These can include musculoskeletal issues (as in issues to do with your muscles or bones.) It may also relate to nervous system (nerve), connective tissues (such as fascia) biochemical (eg: hormone) or even more systemic issues (such as pain radiating through from organs within your body).

Recognising risks and warning signs can be a challenge. It’s all too easy to look up your aches and pains on Dr Google and come up with incorrect conclusions, often based on misinformation. Trawling through the internet invariably causes more anxiety and can even create additional issues to do with how you respond or manage your pain.

The Connective Chiropractic Initial Consultation

Coming to an initial consultation at Connective Chiropractic is a sure fire way to get some information about what is creating your pain. Whilst many people come to our initial session to start off their Chiropractic care with us, some also come to us to utilise our skills and expertise in finding out some more information about what is going on.

We reserve the time to ensure we can do as much testing as we can. The purpose of these tests are not to create confusion, but to narrow down a list of endless possibilities to a much smaller number; ideally just one. Without testing, any advice we (or anyone else can give) is pretty much pointless. It isn’t tailored to your case and can be grossly inaccurate for your circumstances. In some cases, following the wrong signs, symptoms or variables can lead to dangerous positions where conditions can be wrongly treated or even ignored. It’s for this reason we advice that if people are in doubt they get it checked out.

Helping you to get the best care once you have more information

If we can help and your issue is within our scope of practice, we’ll let you know how we can help and what we would think would be required as part of your care plan. If we can’t help however we are keen to ensure that the time and effort is not wasted. We’re happy to document the testing that we have done for you and to refer you to someone who is better positioned to assist you.

The problem with self-diagnosis

Frequently we will see people who have come to us for an initial consultation after having trawled over the internet for information on their issue. What we often find in common is an over-exaggerated viewpoint or fear of what is going on and often resultant behavioural changes that further imbed the pain into everyday life or mean that we have more to work through in our initial pain phase of care. What we occasionally find too is that people are so convinced of what they find that they disagree with us in what their body can do and allow avoidable pain patterns to entrench further into their lives. In short, our advice is don’t spend ages figuring it out yourself: You may make things worse. Come to get it checked and avoid over-relying on unspecific information, hearsay or Dr Google.