About
There is no way to tell how much pain a person has. No test can measure pain intensity, no imaging device can show pain, and no instrument can locate pain precisely. Sometimes, as in headaches, physicians find that the best aid to diagnosis is the patient’s description of the pain’s type, duration, and location. Defining pain as sharp or dull, constant or intermittent, burning, or aching may give the best clues to the cause of pain. These descriptions are part of the physician’s pain history during the preliminary examination of a patient with a problem.
Physicians, however, do have several technologies they use to find the cause of pain. Primarily these include:
• Electrodiagnostic procedures include electromyography (EMG), nerve conduction studies, and evoked potential (EP) studies. Information from EMG can help physicians tell precisely which muscles or nerves are affected by weakness or pain.