The Spine Journal
Volume 10, Issue 6 , Pages 514-529 , June 2010

Synthesis of recommendations for the assessment and management of low back pain from recent clinical practice guidelines

  • Simon Dagenais, DC, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Palladian Health, 2732 Transit Rd, West Seneca, NY 14224, USA
    • Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Palladian Health, 2732 Transit Rd, West Seneca, NY 14224, USA. Tel.: (949) 466-8132.
    • ,
  • Andrea C. Tricco, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Palladian Health, 2732 Transit Rd, West Seneca, NY 14224, USA
    • ,
  • Scott Haldeman, DC, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Palladian Health, 2732 Transit Rd, West Seneca, NY 14224, USA
    • Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
    • Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
    • Research Division, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Whittier, CA 90604, USA

Received 4 November 2009 ,Revised 24 February 2010 ,Accepted 29 March 2010.

References 

  1. Cassidy JD, Carroll LJ, Cote P. The Saskatchewan health and back pain survey. The prevalence of low back pain and related disability in Saskatchewan adults. Spine. 1998;23:1860–1866
  2. Cassidy JD, Cote P, Carroll LJ, Kristman V. Incidence and course of low back pain episodes in the general population. Spine. 2005;30:2817–2823
  3. Cote P, Cassidy JD, Carroll L. The treatment of neck and low back pain: who seeks care? who goes where?. Med Care. 2001;39:956–967
  4. Savigny P, Kuntze S, Watson P, et al. Low back pain: early management of persistent non-specific low back pain. London, UK: Royal College of General Practitioners; 2009;
  5. Martin CR, Gruszczynski AT, Braunsfurth HA, et al. The surgical management of degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis: a systematic review. Spine. 2007;32:1791–1798
  6. Dagenais S, Caro J, Haldeman S. A systematic review of low back pain cost of illness studies in the United States and internationally. Spine J. 2008;8:8–20
  7. Chou R, Qaseem A, Snow V, et al. Diagnosis and treatment of low back pain: a joint clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society. Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:478–491
  8. The Norwegian Back Pain Network . Acute low back pain: interdisciplinary clinical guidelines. Oslo, UK: The Norwegian Back Pain Network; 2002;
  9. Negrini S, Giovannoni S, Minozzi S, et al. Diagnostic therapeutic flow-charts for low back pain patients: the Italian clinical guidelines. Eura Medicophys. 2006;42:151–170
  10. Lind BK, Lafferty WE, Tyree PT, et al. The role of alternative medical providers for the outpatient treatment of insured patients with back pain. Spine. 2005;30:1454–1459
  11. Haldeman S, Dagenais S. A supermarket approach to the evidence-informed management of chronic low back pain. Spine J. 2008;8:1–7
  12. Koes BW, van Tulder MW, Ostelo R, et al. Clinical guidelines for the management of low back pain in primary care: an international comparison. Spine. 2001;26:2504–2513
  13. Manchikanti L, Heavner JE, Racz GB, et al. Methods for evidence synthesis in interventional pain management. Pain Physician. 2003;6:89–111
  14. Manchikanti L, Abdi S, Lucas LF. Evidence synthesis and development of guidelines in interventional pain management. Pain Physician. 2005;8:73–86
  15. Chou R. Evidence-based medicine and the challenge of low back pain: where are we now?. Pain Pract. 2005;5:153–178
  16. Manchikanti L. Evidence-based medicine, systematic reviews, and guidelines in interventional pain management, part I: introduction and general considerations. Pain Physician. 2008;11:161–186
  17. Arnau JM, Vallano A, Lopez A, et al. A critical review of guidelines for low back pain treatment. Eur Spine J. 2006;15:543–553
  18. van Tulder MW, Tuut M, Pennick V, et al. Quality of primary care guidelines for acute low back pain. Spine. 2004;29:E357–E362
  19. Becker A, Leonhardt C, Kochen MM, et al. Effects of two guideline implementation strategies on patient outcomes in primary care: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Spine. 2008;33:473–480
  20. Fritz JM, Cleland JA, Brennan GP. Does adherence to the guideline recommendation for active treatments improve the quality of care for patients with acute low back pain delivered by physical therapists?. Med Care. 2007;45:973–980
  21. Fullen BM, Maher T, Bury G, et al. Adherence of Irish general practitioners to European guidelines for acute low back pain: a prospective pilot study. Eur J Pain. 2007;11:614–623
  22. Tacci JA, Webster BS, Hashemi L, et al. Clinical practices in the management of new-onset, uncomplicated, low back workers' compensation disability claims. J Occup Environ Med. 1999;41:397–404
  23. Webster BS, Courtney TK, Huang YH, et al. Physicians' initial management of acute low back pain versus evidence-based guidelines. Influence of sciatica. J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20:1132–1135
  24. Webster BS, Courtney TK, Huang YH, et al. Survey of acute low back pain management by specialty group and practice experience. J Occup Environ Med. 2006;48:723–732
  25. Walsh L, Menzies D, Chamberlain K, et al. Do occupational health assessments match guidelines for low back pain?. Occup Med (Lond). 2008;58:485–489
  26. Hush JM. Clinical management of occupational low back pain in Australia: what is the real picture?. J Occup Rehabil. 2008;18:375–380
  27. Somerville S, Hay E, Lewis M, et al. Content and outcome of usual primary care for back pain: a systematic review. Br J Gen Pract. 2008;58:790–797
  28. Bishop PB, Wing PC. Knowledge transfer in family physicians managing patients with acute low back pain: a prospective randomized control trial. Spine J. 2006;6:282–288
  29. Bishop PB, Wing PC. Compliance with clinical practice guidelines in family physicians managing worker's compensation board patients with acute lower back pain. Spine J. 2003;3:442–450
  30. Gonzalez-Urzelai V, Palacio-Elua L, Lopez-de-Munain J. Routine primary care management of acute low back pain: adherence to clinical guidelines. Eur Spine J. 2003;12:589–594
  31. Jackson JL, Browning R. Impact of national low back pain guidelines on clinical practice. South Med J. 2005;98:139–143
  32. Hourcade S, Treves R. Computed tomography in low back pain and sciatica. A retrospective study of 132 patients in the Haute-Vienne district of France. Joint Bone Spine. 2002;69:589–596
  33. Ammendolia C, Taylor JA, Pennick V, et al. Adherence to radiography guidelines for low back pain: a survey of chiropractic schools worldwide. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2008;31:412–418
  34. Swinkels IC, van den Ende CH, van den BW, et al. Physiotherapy management of low back pain: does practice match the Dutch guidelines?. Aust J Physiother. 2005;51:35–41
  35. Strand LI, Kvale A, Raheim M, Ljunggren AE. Do Norwegian manual therapists provide management for patients with acute low back pain in accordance with clinical guidelines?. Man Ther. 2005;10:38–43
  36. Poitras S, Blais R, Swaine B, Rossignol M. Management of work-related low back pain: a population-based survey of physical therapists. Phys Ther. 2005;85:1168–1181
  37. Poitras S, Blais R, Swaine B, Rossignol M. Practice patterns of physiotherapists in the treatment of work-related back pain. J Eval Clin Pract. 2007;13:412–421
  38. Bekkering GE, Hendriks HJ, van Tulder MW, et al. Effect on the process of care of an active strategy to implement clinical guidelines on physiotherapy for low back pain: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Qual Saf Health Care. 2005;14:107–112
  39. Bekkering GE, van Tulder MW, Hendriks EJ, et al. Implementation of clinical guidelines on physical therapy for patients with low back pain: randomized trial comparing patient outcomes after a standard and active implementation strategy. Phys Ther. 2005;85:544–555
  40. Rao JK, Kroenke K, Mihaliak KA, et al. Can guidelines impact the ordering of magnetic resonance imaging studies by primary care providers for low back pain?. Am J Manag Care. 2002;8:27–35
  41. Cote AM, Durand MJ, Tousignant M, Poitras S. Physiotherapists and use of low back pain guidelines: a qualitative study of the barriers and facilitators. J Occup Rehabil. 2009;19:94–105
  42. van Tulder MW, Becker A, Bekkering T, et al. European guidelines for the management of acute nonspecific low back pain in primary care. Eur Spine J. 2006;15(Suppl 2):S169–S191
  43. Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health . Grey matters: a practical search tool for evidence-based medicine. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2009;
  44. Haase A, Follmann M, Skipka G, Kirchner H. Developing search strategies for clinical practice guidelines in SUMSearch and Google Scholar and assessing their retrieval performance. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2007;7:28
  45. AGREE Collaboration. Development and validation of an international appraisal instrument for assessing the quality of clinical practice guidelines: the AGREE project. Qual Saf Health Care. 2003;12:18–23
  46. Airaksinen O, Brox JL, Cedraschi C, et al. European guidelines for the management of chronic nonspecific low back pain in primary care. COST B13 Working Group on Guidelines for Chronic Low Back Pain, European Commission, 2005.
  47. Australian Acute Musculoskeletal Pain Guidelines Group . Evidence-based management of acute musculoskeletal pain. Brisbane, Australia: Australian Academic Press Pty. Ltd.; 2003;
  48. Nielens H, Van Zundert J, Mairiaux P, et al. Chronic low back pain. Good Clinical practice (GCP). Brussels, Belgium: Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE); 2006;Report No.: 48 C (D/2006/10.273/71)
  49. Accident Compensation Corporation, New Zealand Guidelines Group . New Zealand acute low back pain guide. Wellington, New Zealand: Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC); 2004;
  50. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) . Low back pain: early management of persistent non-specific low back pain. London, UK: National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence; 2009;Report No.: NICE clinical guideline 88
  51. Chou R, Loeser JD, Owens DK, et al. Interventional therapies, surgery, and interdisciplinary rehabilitation for low back pain: an evidence-based clinical practice guideline from the American Pain Society. Spine. 2009;34:1066–1077
  52. SBU—Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care . Back pain, neck pain: an evidence based review. Summary and conclusions. Stockholm, Sweden: SBU—Swedish Council on Technology Assessment in Health Care; 2000;Report No.: 145
  53. Furlan AD, Pennick V, Bombardier C, van TM. 2009 updated method guidelines for systematic reviews in the Cochrane Back Review Group. Spine. 2009;34:1929–1941
  54. Ostelo RW, de Vet HC. Clinically important outcomes in low back pain. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 2005;19:593–607
  55. Brazier J, Usherwood T, Harper R, Thomas K. Deriving a preference-based single index from the UK SF-36 Health Survey. J Clin Epidemiol. 1998;51:1115–1128
  56. Dagenais S, Roffey DM, Wai EK, et al. Can cost utility evaluations inform decision making about interventions for low back pain? A systematic review. Spine J. 2009;9:944–957
  57. Martin BI, Deyo RA, Mirza SK, et al. Expenditures and health status among adults with back and neck problems. JAMA. 2008;299:656–664
  58. Moher D, Pham B, Lawson ML, Klassen TP. The inclusion of reports of randomised trials published in languages other than English in systematic reviews. Health Technol Assess. 2003;7:1–90
  59. Conn VS, Valentine JC, Cooper HM, Rantz MJ. Grey literature in meta-analyses. Nurs Res. 2003;52:256–261

 FDA device/drug status: not applicable.

 Author disclosures: SD (salary, Palladian Health; stock ownership, including options and warrants, Palladian Health; training grant, NCMIC Foundation; speaking and/or teaching arrangements, NCMIC Foundation); ACT (consulting, Palladian Health; research support: investigator salary, Palladian Health); SH (royalties, multiple publishing companies; stock ownership, including options and warrants, Palladian Health; consulting, Palladian Health, NCMIC Foundation, University of New York; speaking and/or teaching arrangements, multiple organizations; trips/travel, multiple meetings per prior field; scientific advisory board, NYCC; other office, WFC Research Council).

 The authors are consultants, employees, or officers of Palladian Health, LLC, a company that manages specialty health benefits on behalf of other health insurers.

PII: S1529-9430(10)00288-3

doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2010.03.032

The Spine Journal
Volume 10, Issue 6 , Pages 514-529 , June 2010

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution