What If All The Tests Are Normal But I Still Have Pain?

— -- Question: What If All The Tests Are Normal But I Still Have Pain?

Answer: There are times when patients will present where all the tests are normal. But they still have pain.

They've seen their primary care physician and they're starting to wonder as to whether or not this pain is all in their head, whether they're crazy. And actually, that's the beginning of the time when a person should actually see a pain specialist. Because there are scenarios when patients, they have absolutely normal testing. Their EMG may be normal, but yet they actually have pain. And it may be because it takes time for the test result to change. Or two, we don't have the adequate testing available to assess a pain.

Then it's becomes who's the pain physician and the patient to actually extract a very good history as it relates to the pain. How does it the patient describe the pain? Is it sharp? Is it dull? Is it aching? A good pain physician will be able to take that information, start thinking about how to best treat that patient. And even in the times when your pain is persistent and your test results are normal, there are many things that we as pain medicine physicians can do to provide a patient with significant pain relief.

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