SIS-16 - The Great Pain Masqueraders

“When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras.” While this is a popular medical proverb, it can unfortunately lead many health practitioners down the wrong path in assessing certain pain syndromes. We will be discussing three pain conditions that are often mistaken for other more common pain diagnoses: thoracic outlet syndrome, piriformis syndrome, and occipital neuralgia. These must be considered in the differential diagnoses of upper extremity, lower extremity, or headache pain disorders respectively.  Clinical presentation, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment will be presented.