Medical and Health Documents

The first step in relieving your back and neck pain is to understand the mechanics of your spine (or backbone). If you can determine where the pain is coming from, you are on your way to taking control and finding relief.

Writer:
Dr Fong Shee Yan, MBBS FRCSEd(Orth) MMed(Surg) FAMS(Orth)
Consultant, Spine Service
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Tan Tock Seng Hospital
11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng
Singapore 308433
Email shee_yan_fong@ttsh.com.sg

Sample

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Identifying your type of back and neck pain…It¹s important to know that if you are among the vast majority of back and neck pain sufferers, you are probably experiencing a mechanical problem. This means that the source of your symptoms is likely coming from one of the spine physical components: the bones, the discs or the joints.

The good news is that mechanical back and neck pain almost always falls into one of four common patterns of pain, first described by Dr Hamilton Hall. Once you recognize your typical pattern, you can take steps on your own to quickly reduce the pain. The bad news is that if your pain does not improve after a week, it is still essential that you seek a doctor’s opinion…less commonly, back or neck pain can be caused by rare but serious conditions like infection, cancer and fracture (especially after a bad injury).

Please note the following discussion only applies to adults (paediatric spine problems deserve a different approach).

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