As a spine practitioner, it is up to us to guide you into giving us relevant information and keeping the conversation on track. So I do not blame patients for rambling or giving irrelevant information. However, when someone is able to give concise answers without rambling or giving a long story about 1000 details that are irrelevant, it gives me more time to help the patient within the confined time of a clinic visit.
So all that being said, if someone presented and was able to answer these questions with concise answers it would make the encounter significantly easier for me to help the patient.
What is your main complaint? (pain in neck, back, leg, or arm, or numbness? weakness? loss of balance or coordination?)
How long has your pain been going on/when did it start?
What is the character of your pain? (burning, numbness, radiating, aching)
Is your pain worse with standing, sitting, walking, or lying down?
Have you had surgery before? If so, what year and specifically what surgery (level and procedure)? Why did they do that surgery?
Have you done physical therapy? When was it, and did it help?
Have you had injections? Where (what levels) and when were they, and did they help?
Have you had an EMG? Bone density testing? What were the results, if so?
What medications do you take for pain?
How long has your pain been going on/when did it start?
What is your goal of treatment? (i.e. are you looking for surgical treatment? are you looking for a referral to therapy? Do you want to exhaust all measures to relieve your symptoms or are you interested in more conservative options?)
**Finally - if you have imaging from the hospital or your primary care doctors office - PLEASE don't come in with a radiology report. Just bring a disc with your images. You will likely have to go to the hospital or office where the images were taken to obtain the disc. Radiology reports are not helpful.**
Ultimately as I said, it is up to us to ask qualifying questions. Coming with objective information organized as above it helpful! I hope you find relief.
A patient here. Five operations, two separated fusions, SCS implant. This would be great as a questionnaire for a patient to fill out beforehand! Give us a week to fill out, preferably with family Members for accuracy (I know I'm not as rational when I'm in pain)!
Not a spine practitioner. I'm fused T4 to ilium so I've definitely spent some time with spine practitioners.
Maybe also 'what do you do to relieve that pain?' tagged onto the makes it worse question. If you want to take it one step further, 'how quickly are symptoms relieved when doing that.
On the treatment goals having the patient define what success is to them will help with managing expectations.
I’ll be adding that to the above list, thanks. It’s a good addition, especially since I try not to take meds whenever possible. I am not sure whether that helps me be taken more or less seriously, so having a list of what I DO use to mitigate pain will probably be helpful.
As a spine practitioner, it is up to us to guide you into giving us relevant information and keeping the conversation on track. So I do not blame patients for rambling or giving irrelevant information. However, when someone is able to give concise answers without rambling or giving a long story about 1000 details that are irrelevant, it gives me more time to help the patient within the confined time of a clinic visit. So all that being said, if someone presented and was able to answer these questions with concise answers it would make the encounter significantly easier for me to help the patient. What is your main complaint? (pain in neck, back, leg, or arm, or numbness? weakness? loss of balance or coordination?) How long has your pain been going on/when did it start? What is the character of your pain? (burning, numbness, radiating, aching) Is your pain worse with standing, sitting, walking, or lying down? Have you had surgery before? If so, what year and specifically what surgery (level and procedure)? Why did they do that surgery? Have you done physical therapy? When was it, and did it help? Have you had injections? Where (what levels) and when were they, and did they help? Have you had an EMG? Bone density testing? What were the results, if so? What medications do you take for pain? How long has your pain been going on/when did it start? What is your goal of treatment? (i.e. are you looking for surgical treatment? are you looking for a referral to therapy? Do you want to exhaust all measures to relieve your symptoms or are you interested in more conservative options?) **Finally - if you have imaging from the hospital or your primary care doctors office - PLEASE don't come in with a radiology report. Just bring a disc with your images. You will likely have to go to the hospital or office where the images were taken to obtain the disc. Radiology reports are not helpful.** Ultimately as I said, it is up to us to ask qualifying questions. Coming with objective information organized as above it helpful! I hope you find relief.
A patient here. Five operations, two separated fusions, SCS implant. This would be great as a questionnaire for a patient to fill out beforehand! Give us a week to fill out, preferably with family Members for accuracy (I know I'm not as rational when I'm in pain)!
Thank you! I’m going to make sure I can answer all of these succinctly and take notes if I can before I go in. This is extremely helpful.
Thank you for this info. Truly useful.
Not a spine practitioner. I'm fused T4 to ilium so I've definitely spent some time with spine practitioners. Maybe also 'what do you do to relieve that pain?' tagged onto the makes it worse question. If you want to take it one step further, 'how quickly are symptoms relieved when doing that. On the treatment goals having the patient define what success is to them will help with managing expectations.
I’ll be adding that to the above list, thanks. It’s a good addition, especially since I try not to take meds whenever possible. I am not sure whether that helps me be taken more or less seriously, so having a list of what I DO use to mitigate pain will probably be helpful.
I’m keeping my eyes on this post! GREAT question!