Box 8.4 Questions to help distinguish musculoskeletal etiologies from other
causes of chronic abdominal pain (based on Sparkes et al.16)
Patients responding positively to the first set of questions AND negatively to
the second set are likely to have a musculoskeletal cause for their chronic
abdominal pain:
●
●
If the following questions are answered “yes,” musculoskeletal pain is
likely
– Is pain worsened by coughing, sneezing, or taking a deep breath?
– Is pain aggravated by change in posture, such as getting out of bed or a
chair, bending, turning over in bed, or lifting?
If the following questions are answered “no,” musculoskeletal pain is
likely
– Has there been a recent change in your bowel habits?
– Does eating aggravate your pain?
– Have you lost weight unintentionally since your pain started?
D. Marcus, Chronic Pain: A Primary Care Guide to Practical Management,
© Humana Press, a part of Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
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