To examine reasons for and extent of health services utilization in patients seeking care for neck and shoulder pain in a population based primary care setting.
Patients seeking care for neck and shoulder pain were identified from medical records of 6526 patients visiting 6 primary care centers during a 2 week period. The extent of and reasons for health care utilization over the subsequent 12 month period were examined.
Of 440 patients who consulted primary health care physicians for neck and shoulder pain, one-half had one or more additional episodes of care due to musculoskeletal (MSK) pain over the subsequent 12 months. One-quarter had additional episodes of care for pain in other sites than in the neck and shoulder. The total number of visits was twice the annual average for patients visiting the health centers, MSK symptoms accounting for half the visits. Twenty percent of the women and 7% of the men visited primary care physicians 10 times or more per year.
The pattern of reasons for visits for MSK pain suggests that in about one-quarter of patients visiting primary care physicians for neck and shoulder pain, the local symptomatology is part of multisite MSK symptoms, resulting in frequent utilization of health services.