Evaluation of chronic foot pain.

Chronic pain problems and the resultant loss of function and productivity are major problems facing medicine today. Diagnosis of the underlying cause of the pain often eludes our best efforts. Unfortunately, part of the problem stems from the lack of a systematic and logical approach to the evaluation of patients with chronic pain. This article details the systematic approach used at the Intermountain Center for Podiatric Excellence and reviews the current literature on the subject. The evaluation system is driven by the differential diagnosis and includes psychosocial evaluation as indicated. This system was developed with the goal of maximizing diagnostic precision while minimizing costs.