The drive to the hospital may hold a clue about what is happening inside the belly. When doctors in England asked patients with suspected appendicitis whether speed bumps on the way had made their pain worse, nearly everyone with a confirmed case said yes.
In a study published in the BMJ in December 2012, 33 of 34 patients with confirmed appendicitis who had traveled over speed bumps reported that the bumps worsened their pain. The catch: most patients without appendicitis said the same thing.
