Pain Blog

(from Part 1) While I’m certain that there are many possible reasons for CNSNSP (Chronic Non-Specific Neck and Shoulder Pain that we described in Part 1), as far as I’m concerned for now, there are four causes:

Managing chronic pain is a bit like scaling a mountain. Except you have no idea how high the mountain is.

“Tight neck and shoulders” – it’s possibly the most common pain in a population. While most occasions it’s no more than a simple nuisance, every now and then we get people who are experiencing life-hindering amount of discomfort on the area.

When something hurts, pain signal is generated from that place, it then travels to the spine eventually ending up in the brain. It is not a straightforward journey however, and there are numerous factors that will impact on the final sensation of pain.

Knowing the difference between Structural Deviation and Source of Pain is one of the fundamental clinical reasoning in management of chronic pain conditions.

2016 for me begun with three interesting orofacial patients, similar symptoms but quite different at the same time. Please have a read here:

  This is one of the most common scenarios that we hear. “Oh that doctor/surgeon/physio that I went to, he said that there’s nothing wrong with me, and the pain is caused by stress.” Needless to say, the look on the patient indicates that he/she is very much offended by a suggestion that the pain is […]

51 yr old male, 2 year history of worsening pain on cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. Some referred pain patterns as well, at stomach area (rib 12 distribution) and chest, as well as ear and facial pain, headache etc.

It is easy to dismiss the validity of braces, especially something like this:

38 yr old male, with bilateral pain at neck and trapezius area since 2008 after “hurting it at the gym”. Worsened gradually since. Has not worked over a year due to pain and uncertainty over its cause and prognosis. Works as an IT (i.e. sitting). MRI done in 2008 – NAD. Been to a number of […]