Douleurs de la cheville : ostéome ostéoïde ou moral dans les chaussettes ?

If somatic complaint can of course express the body's pain, it can also express another suffering. We submit the case of Élodie, a young girl operated twice for osteoid osteoma on the left tibia and complaining about pains on the ankle. During the first consultation, we were not able to characterize precisely Élodie's pain. Because Élodie expressed personal suffering, we suggested her to start out psychotherapy to discover the true signification of her somatic complaint. Psychotherapy allowed Élodie to be aware that her pain was a way to express her family difficulties and the fear that osteoid osteoma recurred. This awareness led to a decrease in the pain's intensity, without any drug prescription.