This person suffers from chronic pain. 
The conventional doctors, including orthopedists don’t have anything more to offer since their standard (non-specific) recommendations haven’t helped. 
I like educating people that pain can be caused by one or more of three general categories:
1. Structural – physical injury, overuse, postural, biomechanical. 
2. Metabolic – inflammation associated with immune issues, poor blood sugar regulation, gut issues, sleep disturbance, thyroid issues, sex hormone issues, etc. 
3. Neurologic – the pain was so acutely traumatic and/or has been so chronic that it has rewired the brain to “feel” pain even though the actual tissue may be normal on exam or diagnostics. 
When you have a pain complaint, conventional medicine almost always ONLY considers option 1 (Structural). That is what they did with this person. 
When the (low) “standard of care” approach fails like it did in this case, the typical MD gives up or refers out to a “specialist” who will look at you the exact same. Hence the wasted time and money of the mainstream hamster medical wheel. 
Functional medicine is interested in the INDIVIDUAL, not the symptoms. Therefore, we study and consider ALL potential contributions to a person’s complaint(s) and the investigate the highly probable targets in an individualized and specific way. 
This person’s pain is cause by factors in areas 1, 2, and 3. Let’s get to work! 
