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Back pain is one of the most common reasons people visit an emergency room, urgent care center, or primary care physician. In most cases, the diagnosis is relatively straightforward—a muscle strain, a herniated disc, arthritis, or another condition that improves with medication, physical therapy, or time. But sometimes back pain is the first sign of a neurological emergency. A patient arrives at the emergency department complaining of severe lower back pain that shoots into both legs. They mention numbness around the groin and difficulty urinating. They are diagnosed with sciatica, prescribed pain medication, and told to follow up with an...

A 15-year-old boy wakes up in the middle of the night with severe pain in his groin. He tells his parents that his testicle hurts, but he is embarrassed to explain exactly where the pain is coming from. By morning, the pain is so intense that they take him to the emergency room. The physician suspects a urinary tract infection. Another provider thinks it is epididymitis. Pain medication is prescribed, antibiotics are started, and the teenager is sent home. Later that evening, the pain becomes unbearable. He returns to the hospital, where an ultrasound reveals the real problem: testicular torsion....

Most people think of heart disease as blocked arteries, heart attacks, or high blood pressure. Few realize that bacteria circulating in the bloodstream can settle on the heart itself, gradually destroying its valves and sending infected clots throughout the body. That condition is called infective endocarditis, and it remains one of the most dangerous infections physicians encounter. Unlike many emergencies that announce themselves dramatically, endocarditis often begins with vague symptoms that resemble dozens of common illnesses. A patient develops a fever that won't go away. They feel exhausted. They have body aches, chills, or unexplained weight loss. Some are treated...

A patient visits an urgent care clinic because one leg has become swollen, painful, and unusually warm. They assume they pulled a muscle while exercising or perhaps twisted their knee over the weekend. The provider examines the leg, diagnoses a muscle strain, recommends rest and anti-inflammatory medication, and sends the patient home. Two days later, the patient collapses. The blood clot that formed in the leg has traveled to the lungs, causing a massive pulmonary embolism. For some patients, emergency treatment is successful. Others are left with permanent heart and lung damage. Tragically, many never make it to the hospital....

Almost everyone experiences abdominal pain at some point in life. It might be something they ate, a stomach virus making its way through the family, or simply indigestion after a large meal. Because abdominal pain is so common, both patients and healthcare providers can be tempted to assume the explanation is something routine. Most of the time, it is. But appendicitis is one of those conditions where making the wrong assumption can have devastating consequences. A patient may arrive at an emergency department or urgent care clinic with pain that started near the belly button before moving into the lower...