Outcome of low back pain in general practice: a prospective study

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the claim that 90% of episodes of low back pain that present to general practice have resolved within one month. Design: Prospective study of all adults consulting in general practice because of low back pain over 12 months with follow up at 1 week, 3 months, and 12 months after consultation. Setting: Two general practices in south Manchester. Subjects: 490 subjects (203 men, 287 women) aged 18-75 years. Main outcome measures: Proportion of patients who have ceased to consult with low back pain after 3 months; proportion of patients who are free of pain and back related disability at 3 and 12 months. Results: Annual cumulative consultation rate among adults in the practices was 6.4%. Of the 463 patients who consulted with a new episode of low back pain, 275 (59%) had only a single consultation, and 150 (32%) had repeat consultations confined to the 3 months after initial consultation. However, of those interviewed at 3 and 12 months follow up, only 39/188 (21%) and 42/170 (25%) respectively had completely recovered in terms of pain and disability. Conclusions:The results are consistent with the interpretation that 90% of patients with low back pain in primary care will have stopped consulting with symptoms within three months. However most will still be experiencing low back pain and related disability one year after consultation.

Determinants of “return to work in good health” among workers with back pain who consult in primary care settings: a 2-year prospective study

“…Von Korff and Saunders [87], have shown that the natural history [20], among workers of the general population [83], and among compensated workers [65]. Back pain is a recurrent condition, a characteristic that cross-sectional, dichotomous measures of returnto-work do not capture.…”

Using the cervical range of motion (CROM) device to assess head repositioning accuracy in individuals with cervical radiculopathy in comparison to neck- healthy individuals

“…A total of 149 individuals (75 men; 74 women) met the inclusion criteria of no self-reported current neck disorders (score on the Neck Disability Index (NDI) < 20% (Fairbank et al, 1980), pain on the visual analogue scale (VAS) ≤ 10 mm (Croft et al, 1998), and no recurrent neck or low back pain, inflammatory joint disease, or other systemic disease during the last three years; 10 of the recruited men were unable to attend the testing. The sample was filled with 34 individuals (employees and students from a university) to include at least 80 men and 80 women (20 individuals in each of the following age intervals: 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55-64 years) .…”

Chiropractic management of a veteran with lower back pain associated with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hypertrophy and degenerative disk disease

“…7 It appears that there are mixed research results for SMT, with Assendelft et al 25 reporting no evidence that any therapy including analgesics, exercises, physical therapy, back schools, and SMT is superior to the other. Many studies are citing statistics that reflect that LBP will resolve in about 6 weeks regardless of the treatment received, but Croft et al 26 showed how only 8% of patients with LBP consulted with the initial physician even though 75% continued to have complaints, which may cause a wrong assumption that the patient has recovered. The patient in this case had comorbidities of DISH and DDD that both may have contributed to his complaints of lower back pain.…”