Shadows of the truth in patients with spinal pain: a review.

Abstract

Spinal pain with or without referred pain is a major and costly health problem that can arise from many anatomical structures. Sophisticated diagnostic imaging devices cannot show some of these structures, and frequently imaging provides only a shadow of the truth. This review illustrates how symptoms may well have an organic cause that is not detectable by current methods of examination, including imaging. This study reviews some histopathological findings that can be associated with spinal pain with or without referred pain but cannot be seen on imaging. Some histopathological changes illustrate imaging device limitations. Awareness of the considerable limitations of even sophisticated imaging devices is necessary when managing patients with acute or chronic spinal pain with or without referred pain. Symptoms may well be genuine and not of psychogenic origin: a diagnosis of malingering, therefore, should not be made lightly.