Has History Taking Become a “History”?
Journal Title: BMH Medical Journal - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 1
Abstract
We all know that these days, many spinal surgeries are done for back pain or sometimes spinal fusions are done following spinal canal decompression. We also know that back pain is very common in the general population. We also are aware that the common causes of back pain are anxiety, stress, worry, depression, muscle spasm, flabby muscles, bad posture, referred pain from sacroiliac joint pain, piriformis syndrome, retro peritoneal pathologies, facet joints etc. In addition we all know that MRI is done at the drop of a hat for patients with back pain. We also know that MRI most often shows disc bulges, ligamentum flavum hypertrophy, facet hypertrophy and canal compromise. We also know that these findings are common in many asymptomatic people and are part of a normal aging process. We all seem to know everything, aware of everything and are knowledgeable about everything. But what we don't know or fail to know is that when we face a patient with back pain in our clinic, we forget all that we know! We tend to get influenced by the MRI findings or report and totally ignore a significant part of clinical evaluation. And that significant part is History taking. In no other aspect of medicine does history play such an unequivocal role in decision making as in spine surgery. But this is where most of us stumble, and we see history as a thing of the past. Why bother to waste time on history when we have all the modern gadgets for investigation and treatment at our disposal?
Authors and Affiliations
Haroon M Pillay
Keywords
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