The human musculoskeletal system (referred to as “MSK”) contains an immense array of muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones and joints. MSK injuries, diseases and disorders range from arthritis to trauma to sports injury to cancer and hundreds of other possibilities in between. People seeking relief from body and joint pain want fast, accurate answers, but because of the vastness and complexity of the MSK system, many diagnoses provided by practitioners are incomplete or just plain wrong. While no set of practitioners can be spot-on 100% of the time, many incorrect diagnoses are due to inexperience, poor communication within a patient’s care team and insufficient or outdated diagnostic equipment.

Adequate relief from pain and dysfunction demands a correct diagnosis of the problem, which can be tricky, because the body may refer pain to areas away from the actual site of injury or disease. Low back pain may be caused by a problem in an internal organ; knee pain may come from arthritis in the hip; shoulder issues might be due to inflammation of the spinal nerves, and so forth. Without a correct diagnosis, efforts to relieve symptoms are merely a cover-up, not a true and lasting solution; therefore, discovering the actual root of the problem should be priority one.