[Understand, investigate and diagnose pain in the musculoskeletal system]

Most patients who attend orthopedic trauma surgery practices present with pain of the musculoskeletal system which can significantly affect the quality of life. For most patients the reason for the pain is quite obvious and can be easily addressed; however, for other patients the mechanism responsible for the pain remains unclear. In these patients it is mandatory to have well founded knowledge about the origin of the pain, possible pathways of pain sensitization and chronification in order to ask the right questions during (pain) anamnesis and to perform an adequate clinical functional examination. This is the foundation to offer an effective treatment to patients or when necessary to initiate further diagnostic investigations in order to avoid pain chronification or to direct patients to a multimodal interdisciplinary approach when the pain is already chronic.