Articles: low-back-pain.
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Diagnostic triage is an essential guideline recommendation for low back pain (LBP), which is the most frequent musculoskeletal condition that general practitioners encounter in Australia. Clinical diagnosis of LBP - informed by a focused history and clinical examination - is the key initial step for GPs, and determines subsequent diagnostic workup and allied health and medical specialist referral. The goal of diagnostic triage of LBP is to exclude non-spinal causes and to allocate patients to one of three broad categories: specific spinal pathology (< 1% of cases), radicular syndrome (∼ 5-10% of cases) or non-specific LBP (NSLBP), which represents 90-95% of cases and is diagnosed by exclusion of the first two categories. ⋯ A biopsychosocial model of care underpins NSLBP; this includes managing pain intensity and considering risk for disability, which directs matched pathways of care. Back pain is a symptom and not a diagnosis. Careful diagnostic differentiation is required and, in primary care, diagnostic triage of LBP is the anchor for a diagnosis.
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Review Meta Analysis
[Chronic low back pain and psychological comorbidity : A review].
Back pain is a common, disabling problem in Germany. Previous research has evaluated associations between low back pain (LBP), depression, and fear. ⋯ The results can improve the understanding of the complexity of LBP perception and its therapy. The generalization of the results is limited. To cover the correlation of psychosocial and lifestyle factors and pain perception of LBP, further research is required. To obtain a clearer picture of pain perception in persons with LBP, standardized pain assessment would be beneficial. In addition, we recommend that future studies follow standardized procedures to allow greater comparability.
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New advances in spinal cord stimulation have led to improved treatment of patients suffering from chronic pain. While the overall safety of newer stimulation devices has been established, no published reports exist regarding safety considerations when these devices are implanted in patients with a preexisting cardiac device. ⋯ While others have reported safety during traditional SCS in patients with implanted cardiac devices, this is the first case report to describe safe and effective use of high-frequency SCS in a patient with an implanted cardiac device.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Apr 2017
Pain avoidance predicts disability and depressive symptoms three years later in individuals with whiplash complaints.
Longstanding symptoms due to whiplash are commonly associated with decreased levels of emotional and physical functioning. To date, there is strong empirical support for the relationship between psychological in/flexibility and pain-related functioning, but the predictive role for future health is largely unknown. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate if psychological in/flexibility (i.e. avoidance and cognitive fusion) predicted pain disability and depressive symptoms 3 years later in individuals with whiplash complaints. ⋯ Pain avoidance significantly predicted pain disability and depressive symptoms 3 years later. Although tentative, results warrant more studies to further explore the importance of pain avoidance for future health.