When dealing with a patient that has back pain, If I want to prescribe Gabapentin or Pregabalin, what type of questions would one ask the patient to determine whether the pain had a nerve component or what type of testing would be required?

 

To determine whether the pain had a nerve component, we should first asked the patient to describe their pain in terms of the following characteristics: location, radiation, mode of onset, character, temporal pattern, exacerbating and relieving factors, and intensity. There are many pain assessment tools available that can be used to identify the intensity and behaviours associated with pain. This tools include Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS), the Wong Baker smiley faces and a Numerical Descriptor Scale (NDS).