Questions Your Doctor May Ask - and Why!
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Buttock pain.
These may include a physical examination or other medical tests.
Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing
your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information
you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
- How long have you had buttock pain?
Why: to establish if acute or chronic.
- Is it unilateral or bilateral?
Why: may suggest dysfunction of the sacroiliac joints (especially if woman and has had many children).
- How would you describe the pain?
Why: e.g. sciatica is usually piercing.
- Point to where the pain is exactly?
Why: patients often present complaining of hip pain but are actually referring to pain in the buttock or lower back and vise versa.
- What makes the pain worse?
Why: e.g. sciatica is worse with coughing, sneezing, straining with bowel movements; osteoarthritis worse with activity; trochanteric bursitis is worse at night when laying on the painful side.
- Does the pain come on after walking a predictable distance and stop as soon as you rest?
Why: may suggest gluteal claudication due to peripheral vascular disease.
- Have you had an injury?
Why: e.g. fall - may suggest risk of fracture of hip or pelvis or Coccygodynia (ache in lower sacrum and coccyx sometimes following a fall, pain can radiate to buttocks).
- Sporting history?
Why: trauma and over-use injuries from sporting activities are common causes of muscular and ligament strains around the buttock.
- Past medical history?
Why: e.g. peripheral vascular disease can cause gluteal claudication.
- Risk factors for peripheral vascular disease?
Why: e.g. cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, atrial fibrillation.
Questions your doctor may ask about related symptoms:
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse
your condition. These may include:
- Back pain?
Why: most pain in the buttock originates from the lumbosacral spine (most common) or sacroiliac joints.
- Hip pain?
Why: disorders of the hip may refer pain to thigh, knee and also buttock.
- Leg pain?
Why: may suggest sciatica, referred pain from lumbosacral spine or claudication pain (due to blockage of the arterial blood supply).
- Leg numbness?
Why: may suggest sciatica as cause of buttock pain.
- Stiffness?
Why: e.g. first thing in the morning - may suggest arthritis as cause.
- Shoulder ache?
Why: may suggest polymyalgia rheumatica.
- Weight loss?
Why: may suggest possible tumor e.g. myeloma or lymphosarcoma arising in the upper leg or pelvis.
- Impotence?
Why: often accompanies gluteal claudication due to peripheral arterial disease.
- Buttock rash?
Why: may suggest genital herpes or shingles as cause of buttock pain.
- Anal symptoms?
Why: e.g. anal lump, anal pain, anal swelling - anal conditions may cause pain referred to buttocks.
» Next page: News about Buttock pain
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