WILDERNESS RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURY - ROLE OF BONE-SCINTIGRAPHY

Musculoskeletal pain is a common sequela of wilderness related activit ies. X-ray analysis of persistent musculoskeletal pain often reveals n o specific etiology. Nuclear medicine bone scintigraphy has the abilit y to detect several types of abnormalities which can be missed by plai n film techniques. These abnormalities include: 1) stress fracture, 2) enthesopathy, 3) occult fracture. Scintigraphic diagnosis of these in juries can lead to proper and timely treatment while a negative bone s can can effectively rule out osseous injury.