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Not your typical back pain: A case report of reactive arthritis

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Case Report

Author Details : Irfan Chhipa*, Quincy Cheesman

Volume : 5, Issue : 2, Year : 2019

Article Page : 70-73

https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijor.2019.014

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Abstract

Introduction: Reactive arthritis classically includes a triad of conjunctivitis, urethritis, and arthritis in a young, adult male patient following a urogenital or gastrointestinal infection. This paper reports a case of reactive arthritis in a young, sexually active, male patient who presents atypically, with a chief complaint of three-month lower back pain.
Case Report: A 30-year-old male presents to the office with a complaint of three-month lower back pain despite conservative treatment and a negative workup in the emergency department, two months prior. After a thorough assessment and laboratory workup, the patient was diagnosed and treated for reactive arthritis. Suspicion for reactive arthritis included a positive Chlamydia trachomatis urinalysis and a positive HLA-B27. Three weeks after appropriate treatment, the patient is now symptom-free.
Conclusion: In conclusion, it is important to thoroughly assess a patient who presents with continued pain despite previous workup and treatment. Lower back pain is a common diagnosis and therefore other possible diagnoses are often times written off. Establishing the correct diagnosis may require thinking outside of the box and obtaining multiple labs. However, getting the correct diagnosis is of utmost importance for both the patient and medical community so that further complications and progression of disease do not occur.

Keywords: Reactive arthritis, Chlamydia trachomatis, Young male, Sexually active, Classic triad.

How to cite : Chhipa I, Cheesman Q, Not your typical back pain: A case report of reactive arthritis. IP Int J Orthop Rheumatol 2019;5(2):70-73

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