Description
Acute or recurrent back pain is common and usually sellimiting. The task od the clinician presented with a new episode of back pain is to exclude serious pathology and take steps to prevent chronic pain and disability.
Primary care physicians in the UK have been offered guidelines to assist their assessment using a Red and Yellow Flags system. Red Flags include clinical features indicative of pathological back pain while Yellow flags represent psychosocial risk factors associated with chronic back pain disability.
Rehabilitation involves measures aimed at preventing chronic back pain disability. Important components of this appear to be early belief and Behavioural Management of the individual including encouragement towards an early return to normal activity.
