• F Balagué and D G Borenstein.
• Service de Rhumatologie, Médecine Physique et Rééducation, Hôpital Cantonal, Fribourg, Switzerland.
• Baillieres Clin Rheumatol. 1998 Feb 1; 12 (1): 37-73.

AbstractA wide variety of mechanical and non-mechanical disorders are associated with the clinical symptom of low back pain. Mechanical disorders are the cause of the vast majority of low back pain. Despite this frequency, the specific cause of mechanical low back pain can not be elucidated in spite of extensive diagnostic evaluation in a majority of individuals. Specific causes of low back pain are associated with less frequently occurring systemic illnesses including rheumatic, infectious, neoplastic, gynaecological and vascular disorders. The diagnostic process is more successful in identifying systemic disorders as the specific cause of low back pain. Non-surgical management is effective therapy with most patients with mechanical disorders of any form. Systemic illnesses require interventions directed specifically at healing the affected organ system.

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