Back Pain Dubai UAE Specialist doctors

Yesterday I saw a lovely lady from the UK. She has been seeing her GP in the NHS system for many months with severe back pain radiating to her legs. She is unable to walk for more than 5 minutes, and unable to sleep at night. She has occasional stiffness and numbness in her left leg. She was only being given pain relief and no xrays, MRIs or exercises had been ordered..

Was this patient being managed appropriately in the UK? No. It is true that 95% of back pain is self-limited and usually due to muscle strain, and resolves on its own. We do not routinely order x-rays or MRIs for such patients. However, there are patients with certain ''red flag'' on history. A history of persistent back pain longer than a month, pain radiating to the legs with numbness or weakness of the legs, fevers, weight loss, pain which prevents sleep, inability to pass urine or other bladder or bowel symptoms, history of immune suppression should all raise alarm bells.

This patient had SIGNIFICANT symptoms, pain of several months, keeping her from sleeping at night, associated with inability to walk. She definitely needed an MRI, which we obtained on the same day and made the diagnosis of spinal stenosis. Hopefully she will be able to see a good Spine Specialist in the UK when she returns home with this information.