Her primary care physician told them nothing was wrong and that she should improve with time. She tried 6 weeks of physical therapy with no improvement. The vehicle was hit from the side and the patient was thrown into the door on her right side and shortly after started having shoulder pain in the back of her shoulder with stiffness in her neck. Patient #1: 16 year old female high school athlete who was a back seat passenger during a car crash. I find in practice that physicians do the exact opposite, if you have ever gone to an orthopedic office most of the time is spent getting x-rays and MRI’s before you even speak to a clinician, then the clinician (many times a PA or NP and not the MD/DO) reviews the imaging and tells the patient what is wrong with them without even discussing history or examining the patient! This is very true when it comes to orthopedic medicine. These patients presented with very different symptoms, but were eventually found to have the same diagnosis! BUT importantly, both patients had “normal” imaging so their physicians told them that “nothing was wrong and their issues will resolve with time.” This is a problem because both of these patients actually had serious injuries and their physicians (and many insurance companies) dismissed their complaints and told them it was “just a sprain or strain and should resolve in a few weeks.” We see this too often and in these cases the true diagnosis is missed which leads to patients suffering unnecessarily before eventually getting to the right physician.Īs physicians, we are taught that 70-90% of all patients’ problems can be discovered after discussing their history and doing a thorough examination (1-3). Have you been suffering with neck pain but your imaging is normal? Two patients come to mind that I’ve seen recently whose cases can hopefully shed some light on this issue.
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