Results from a recent paper suggested that low back pain is related to the combination of depressive disorders, anxiety disorder, emotional disturbance, and somatization symptoms.
ED physical therapy should be considered for those with chronic LBP and those older than 55 years given that it showed moderate effect size for the short-term effect of treatment. A further review of the data regarding the effect of other modalities, such as medications, for those with chronic LBP is desirable.
Low back pain is the most common musculoskeletal illness, more common than arthritis and other musculoskeletal disorders. The lifetime prevalence of low back pain is high with over 33% of the population affected.
Recent findings of this study confirm that treatment based on the patient's needs is most effective. However, in some instances, treatment based on symptom reports to the physicians and therapists is a viable alternative.
A majority of patients with low back pain can be managed conservatively during an initial episode for up to 6 weeks. The optimal course of management for chronic low back pain is still not clear. However, most patients can be managed appropriately and may not need long-term opioid or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment.
Low [back pain](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/back-pain) is due to physical factors such as tightness of muscles and ligaments. Painful behavior is related to anxiety and depression, both psychological factors, as well as physical factors such as spinal disc herniation and degenerative disc disease.
The majority of [back pain](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/back-pain) cases may not be symptomatic at the time of presentation. A history of low back trauma is considered a risk factor for back pain. In addition to this, there are many subtle signs of back pain. The key clinico-radiological features of back pain such as low back pain, leg pain and the disc(c)herange are not readily identifiable on radiographs. The term 'back pain' may be misleading in clinical practice. For this reason, back pain should be referred to as 'low back pain', 'lumbar pain' or 'lower back pain' in clinical practice.
The evidence from the existing research for therapies for low back pain is limited. The use of spinal manipulative techniques in chronic low back pain may be effective. Randomized controlled trials are urgently needed to test some of the therapeutic approaches. Findings from a recent study of such studies will probably be available at the end of 2001, if the current trial in New Zealand with high risk patients for low back pain is successful.
It appears reasonable to offer a trial for patients with low [back pain](https://www.withpower.com/clinical-trials/back-pain) to reduce pain and improve physical function and quality of life. For patients, to be considered for such a trial, the following are optimal entry criteria: a history of low back pain for less than 6 months, age less than 55 yr, and current disability. Clinicians should be concerned with patients with more severe pain or those who are younger, who are female, or who have a history of cancer, and who would be more likely to report adverse events. This article presents a proposal for these entry criteria.
The familial risk of lumbar disc herniation in women with LBP was moderate. This is reassuring as a risk for herniated lumbar disc was expected to be greater than that of the normal population.
There was a positive change in pain and patient perceived work ability across all timepoints except at 6-month. Patient-rated functional disability and work ability were positively effected by two weekly group exercises, exercise therapy sessions and home exercise programme. Pain measurement was not a measure of the quality of exercises or treatment. This research suggests therapists should adopt an exercise framework, whilst ensuring the client incorporates active movement, stretching and functional actions as a key element of the programme.
Data from a recent study, physical therapy interventions were not used in combination with any other treatments for pain or function. Physical therapy is one of two treatments used to provide multimodal rehabilitation, but it is not used often in multimodality treatment.