Pattern Recognition of Clinical Syndromes Related to Neuromusculoskeletal Pain Disorders

Clinical reasoning refers to all the processes associated with clinical practice that allow the clinician to take the most wise action in a patient. In recent years, different models of clinical reasoning have been proposed, including the so-called hypothetical-deductive clinical reasoning and clinical reasoning by recognition of clinical patterns. The latter refers to the process of diagnostic reasoning based on the recognition by clinicians of clinical patterns of signs and symptoms previously stored in their knowledge base. These clinical patterns are acquired, on the one hand, from clinical experience with similar patients or clinical conditions and, on the other hand and perhaps more importantly, through the theoretical study of the signs and symptoms that characterize the different clinical musculoskeletal pain syndromes described in the scientific literature. Clinical reasoning by recognition of clinical patterns has proven to be faster, less cognitive demanding and more effective in terms of diagnosis than hypothetical-deductive reasoning characterized by the constant generation and evaluation of diagnostic hypotheses. Furthermore, recognition of clinical patterns has been shown to be characteristic of more experienced or expert clinicians who possess not only a greater body of knowledge in a specialized area, but also a better mental organization of such knowledge than novel clinicians.With this frame of reference, the purpose of this book is to present the most important aspects of the subjective examination (clinical history) and physical examination of the different musculoskeletal pain syndromes that a patient may present thus allowing a clinical reasoning by pattern recognition. In each chapter of the book the reader will find, not only the most relevant information from the clinical history and examination tests with greater diagnostic accuracy for each clinical syndrome, but also special considerations in relation to differential diagnosis and identification of red flags. The fact that contents of this book are structured by anatomical regions aims to facilitate clinicians with organizing their knowledge for better subsequent access. As mentioned above, it is not so much the amount of knowledge but a well-structured organization of that knowledge that characterizes expert clinicians.The book has the participation of renowned national and international experts in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, who have contributed with their knowledge as clinicians and researchers to the elaboration of the different chapters. The contents of the book are thus derived from the best research evidence available together with clinical experience and experts opinion.