Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Canadian Family Physician logoLink to Canadian Family Physician
. 1994 Mar;40:481–486.

Clinical approaches to low back pain. Part 1. Epidemiology, diagnosis, and prevention.

R W Teasell 1, K White 1
PMCID: PMC2380051  PMID: 8199504

Abstract

The epidemiology and difficulties in diagnosing low back pain are discussed. Clinical investigations should be limited to those tests that will provide useful information for effective management. Prevention is the best strategy for avoiding low back pain but is realistically hard to practise because the disorder has many environmental and intrinsic risk factors.

Full text

PDF
481

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Calin A. HLA-B27: to type of not to type? Ann Intern Med. 1980 Feb;92(2 Pt 1):208–211. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-92-2-208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Calin A., Porta J., Fries J. F., Schurman D. J. Clinical history as a screening test for ankylosing spondylitis. JAMA. 1977 Jun 13;237(24):2613–2614. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Deyo R. A., Diehl A. K. Patient satisfaction with medical care for low-back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1986 Jan-Feb;11(1):28–30. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198601000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fast A. Low back disorders: conservative management. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1988 Oct;69(10):880–891. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Friberg O. Clinical symptoms and biomechanics of lumbar spine and hip joint in leg length inequality. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1983 Sep;8(6):643–651. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198309000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gofton J. P. Persistent low back pain and leg length disparity. J Rheumatol. 1985 Aug;12(4):747–750. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Haughton V. M., Eldevik O. P., Magnaes B., Amundsen P. A prospective comparison of computed tomography and myelography in the diagnosis of herniated lumbar disks. Radiology. 1982 Jan;142(1):103–110. doi: 10.1148/radiology.142.1.7053518. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hudgins W. R. Computer-aided diagnosis of lumbar disc herniation. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1983 Sep;8(6):604–615. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198309000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kellgren J. H. The anatomical source of back pain. Rheumatol Rehabil. 1977 Feb;16(1):3–12. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/16.1.3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Khan M. A., Khan M. K. Diagnostic value of HLA-B27 testing ankylosing spondylitis and Reiter's syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1982 Jan;96(1):70–76. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-96-1-70. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Klaber Moffett J. A., Chase S. M., Portek I., Ennis J. R. A controlled, prospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of a back school in the relief of chronic low back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1986 Mar;11(2):120–122. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198603000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rudge S. R., Swannell A. J., Rose D. H., Todd J. H. The clinical assessment of sacro-iliac joint involvement in ankylosing spondylitis. Rheumatol Rehabil. 1982 Feb;21(1):15–20. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/21.1.15. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Waddell G. 1987 Volvo award in clinical sciences. A new clinical model for the treatment of low-back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1987 Sep;12(7):632–644. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198709000-00002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. White A. A., 3rd, Gordon S. L. Synopsis: workshop on idiopathic low-back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1982 Mar-Apr;7(2):141–149. doi: 10.1097/00007632-198203000-00009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wiesel S. W., Tsourmas N., Feffer H. L., Citrin C. M., Patronas N. A study of computer-assisted tomography. I. The incidence of positive CAT scans in an asymptomatic group of patients. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 1984 Sep;9(6):549–551. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Family Physician are provided here courtesy of College of Family Physicians of Canada

RESOURCES