Advertisement
Perspective|Articles in Press

Specific and nonspecific low back pain—mind the gap and its impact in clinical practice: opinion of a recovering interventional spine physiatrist

  • Mustafa Farooque
    Correspondence
    Corresponding author. Back & Spine Program, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center, 2901 W Kinnickinnic River Pkwy, Suite 310, Milwaukee, WI 53215, USA. Tel.: (414) 649-3300; fax: (414) 649-7012.
    Affiliations
    Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 750 Highland Ave. Madison, WI 53705, USA

    Back & Spine Program, Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center, 2901 W Kinnickinnic River Pkwy, Suite 310, Milwaukee, WI 53215, USA
    Search for articles by this author
      Years ago, at a spine conference, I came across one of the authors of several landmark studies on the causes of low back pain (LBP) published in the mid-90s. During the coffee break, I casually asked the author's opinion on how often we could identify a pain generator in LBP with certainty. The answer was, “in about half of the cases.” We face this challenge every time we encounter a patient with LBP. Our patients often ask us the same question, “Doc, what is causing my back pain?”

      Keywords

      Abbreviations:

      LBP (Low back pain), NSLBP (Nonspecific low back pain), SIJ (Sacroiliac joint), IDD (Internal disc disruption), RFA (Radiofrequency ablation), APS (American Pain Society), NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), CLBP (Chronic low back pain)
      To read this article in full you will need to make a payment

      Purchase one-time access:

      Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online access
      One-time access price info
      • For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
      • For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'

      Subscribe:

      Subscribe to The Spine Journal
      Already a print subscriber? Claim online access
      Already an online subscriber? Sign in
      Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect

      References

        • Henschke N
        • Maher CG
        • Refshauge KM
        • et al.
        Prevalence of and screening for serious spinal pathology in patients presenting to primary care settings with acute low back pain.
        Arthritis Rheum. 2009; 60: 3072-3080
        • Galukande M
        • Muwazi S
        • Mugisa DB.
        Aetiology of low back pain in Mulago hospital.
        Uganda. Afr Health Sci. 2005; 5: 164-167
        • Deyo RA
        • Rainville J
        • Kent DL.
        What can the history and physical examination tell us about low back pain?.
        JAMA. 1992; 268: 760-765
        • Enthoven WT
        • Geuze J
        • Scheele J
        • et al.
        Prevalence and “red flags” regarding specific causes of back pain in older adults presenting in general practice.
        Phys Ther. 2016; 96: 305-312
        • Shaw EG
        • Taylor JG.
        The results of lumbo-sacral fusion for low back pain.
        J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1956; 38-B: 485-497
        • Quebec Task Force on Spinal Disorders
        Scientific approach to the assessment and management of activity-related spinal disorders: a monograph for clinicians.
        Spine. 1987; 12: S1-S59
        • Bogduk N
        • McGuirk B.
        Medical management of acute & chronic LBP. An evidence based approach. Pain research and clinical management.
        in: Chapter 14. Elsevier, Amsterdam2002: 115
        • Schwarzer AC
        • Aprill CN
        • Derby R
        • et al.
        The prevalence and clinical features of internal disc disruption in patients with chronic low back pain.
        Spine. 1995; 20: 1878-1883
        • Manchikanti L
        • Singh V
        • Pampati V
        • et al.
        Evaluation of the relative contributions of various structures in chronic low back pain.
        Pain Physician. 2001; 4: 308-316
        • De Palma MJ
        • Ketchum JM
        • Saullo T.
        What is the source of chronic low back pain and does age play a role?.
        Pain Med. 2011; 12: 224-233
        • Schwarzer AC
        • Aprill CN
        • Derby R
        • et al.
        Clinical features of patients with pain stemming from the lumbar zygapophysial joints: is the lumbar facet syndrome a clinical entity?.
        Spine. 1994; 19: 1132-1137
        • Schwarzer AC
        • Wang S
        • Bogduk N
        • McNaught PJ
        • Laurent R.
        Prevalence and clinical features of lumbar zygapophysial joint pain: a study in an Australian population with chronic low back pain.
        Ann Rheum Dis. 1995; 54: 100-106
        • Schwarzer AC
        • Aprill CN
        • Bogduk N.
        The sacroiliac joint in chronic low back pain.
        Spine. 1995; 20: 31-37
        • Maigne JY
        • Aivaliklis A
        • Fabrice P.
        Results of sacroiliac joint double block and value of sacroiliac pain provocation tests in 54 patients with low back pain.
        Spine. 1996; 21: 1889-1892
        • Maher C
        • Underwood M
        • Buchbinder R.
        Non-specific low back pain.
        Lancet. 2017; 389: 736-747
        • Koes BW
        • van Tulder MW
        • Thomas S.
        Diagnosis and treatment of low back pain.
        BMJ. 2006; 332: 1430-1434
        • Deyo RA
        • Weinstein JN.
        Low back pain.
        N ENgl J Med. 2001; 344: 363-370
        • Hartvigsen J
        • Hancock MJ
        • Kongsted A
        • et al.
        Lancet low back pain series working group.
        Lancet. 2018; 391: 2356-2367
        • Van Tulder MW
        • Assendelft WJ
        • Koes BW
        • et al.
        Spinal radiographic findings and NSLBP. A systemic review of observational studies.
        Spine. 1997; 22: 427-434
        • Andrade NS
        • Ashton CM
        • Wray NP
        • et al.
        Systematic review of observational studies reveals no association between low back pain and lumbar spondylolysis with or without isthmic spondylolisthesis.
        Eur Spine J: Off Publ Eur Spine Soc, Eur Spinal Deformity Soc, Eur Section Cervical Spine Res Soc. 2015; 24: 1289-1295
        • Kalichman L
        • Kim DH
        • Li L
        • et al.
        Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis: prevalence and association with low back pain in the adult community-based population.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 199-205
        • Beutler WJ
        • Fredrickson BE
        • Murtland A
        • et al.
        The natural history of spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis: 45-year follow-up evaluation.
        Spine. 2003; 28 (discussion 1035): 1027-1035
        • Jarvik JG
        • Gold LS
        • Comstock BA
        • et al.
        Association of early imaging for back pain with clinical outcomes in older adults.
        JAMA. 2015; 313: 1143-1153
        • Chou R
        • Fu R
        • Carrino JA
        • et al.
        Imaging strategies for low-back pain: systematic review and meta-analysis.
        Lancet. 2009; 373: 463-472
        • Wong JJ
        • Cote P
        • Sutton DA
        • et al.
        Clinical practice guidelines for the noninvasive management of low back pain: a systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) collaboration.
        Eur J Pain. 2016; 21: 201-216
        • Boden SD
        • Davis DO
        • Dina TS
        • et al.
        Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation.
        JBJS. 1990; 72: 403-408
        • Jansen MC
        • Brant-Zawadzki MN
        • Obuchowski N
        • et al.
        Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain.
        N Engl J Med. 1994; 331: 69-73
        • Brinjikji W
        • Luetmer PH
        • Comstock B
        • et al.
        Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations.
        Am J Neuroradiol. 2015; 36: 811-816
        • Brinjikji W
        • Diehn FE
        • Jarvik JG
        • et al.
        MRI findings of disc degeneration are more prevalent in adults with low back pain than in asymptomatic controls: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
        Am J Neuroradiol. 2015; 36: 2394-2399
        • Vlaeyen JW
        • Linton SJ.
        Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a state of the art.
        Pain. 2000; 85: 317-332
        • Jarvik JG
        • Hollingworth W
        • Martin B
        • et al.
        Rapid magnetic resonance imaging vs radiographs for patients with low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.
        JAMA. 2003; 289: 2810-2818
        • Webster BS
        • Choi Y
        • Bauer AZ
        • et al.
        The cascade of medical services and associated longitudinal costs due to nonadherent magnetic resonance imaging for low back pain.
        Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2014; 39: 1433-1440
        • Hancock MJ
        • Maher CG
        • Latimer J
        • et al.
        Systematic review of tests to identify the disc, SIJ or facet joint as the source of low back pain.
        Eur Spine J. 2007; 16: 1539-1550
        • Carragee EJ.
        Is lumbar discography a determinate of discogenic low back pain: provocative discography reconsidered.
        Curr Rev Pain. 2000; 4: 301-308
        • Carragee EJ
        • Tanner CM
        • B Yang B
        • et al.
        False-positive findings on lumbar discography. Reliability of subjective concordance assessment during provocative disc injection.
        Spine. 1999; 24: 2542-2547
        • Carragee EJ
        • Lincoln T
        • Parmar VS
        • Alamin T.
        A gold standard evaluation of the "discogenic pain" diagnosis as determined by provocative discography.
        Spine. 2006; 31: 2115-2123
        • Smith JS
        • Sidhu G
        • Bode K
        • et al.
        Operative and nonoperative treatment approaches for lumbar degenerative disc disease have similar long-term clinical outcomes among patients with positive discography.
        World Neurosurg. 2014; 82: 872-878
        • Smith AE
        • Darden BV
        • Rhyne AL
        • et al.
        Outcome of unoperated discogram-positive low back pain.
        Spine. 1995; 20: 1997-2000
        • Carragee EJ
        • Don AS
        • Hurwitz EL
        • et al.
        2009 ISSLS prize winner: does discography cause accelerated progression of degeneration changes in the lumbar disc: a ten-year matched cohort study.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 2338-2345
        • Cuellar JM
        • Stauff MP
        • Herzog RJ
        • et al.
        Does provocative discography cause clinically important injury to the lumbar intervertebral disc? A 10-year matched cohort study.
        Spine J. 2016; 16: 273-280
        • Maas ET
        • Juch JNS
        • Osteo RWJ
        • et al.
        Systematic review of patient history and physical examination to diagnose chronic low back pain originating from the facet joints.
        Eur J Pain. 2017; 21: 403-414
        • Kalichman L
        • Li L
        • Kim DH.
        Facet joint osteoarthritis and low back pain in the community-based population.
        Spine. 2008; 33: 2560-2565
        • Dreyfuss P
        • Halbrook B
        • Pauza K.
        Efficacy and validity of radiofrequency neurotomy for chronic lumbar zygapophysial joint pain.
        Spine. 2000; 25: 1270-1277
      1. Maas ET, Ostelo RWJG, Niemisto L, et al. Radiofrequency denervation for chronic low back pain. Cochrane Database of Syst Rev 2015 (10): Art. No.: CD008572.

        • Seyedhoseinpoor T
        • Taghipour M
        • Dadgoo M
        • et al.
        Alteration of lumbar muscle morphology and composition in relation to low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
        Spine J. 2022; 22: 660-676
        • Panjabi MM.
        Clinical spinal instability and low back pain.
        J Electromyography Kinesiol. 2003; 13: 371-379
        • Bogduk N.
        A commentary on appropriate use criteria for sacroiliac pain.
        Pain Medicine. 2017; 18: 2055-2057
        • King W
        • Ahmed SU
        • Baisden J
        • et al.
        Diagnosis and treatment of posterior sacroiliac complex pain: a systematic review with comprehensive analysis of the published data.
        Pain Medicine. 2015; 16: 257-265
      2. Anatomy Gray's. The anatomic basis of clinical practice. 40th edition, Churchill Livingstone; 2008. p. 1366.

        • Szadek KM
        • Wurff P
        • Tulder MW
        • et al.
        Validity of criteria for sacroiliac joint pain: a systematic review.
        J Pain. 2009; 10: 354-368
        • Dreyfuss P
        • Michaelsen M
        • Pauza M
        • et al.
        The value of medical history and physical examination in diagnosing sacroiliac joint pain.
        Spine. 1996; 21: 2594-2602
        • Liliang P
        • Lu K
        • Weng H
        • et al.
        The therapeutic efficacy of sacroiliac joint blocks with triamcinolone acetonide in the treatment of sacroiliac joint dysfunction without spondyloarthropathy.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 896-900
        • Laslett M
        • Aprill CN
        • McDonald B
        • et al.
        Diagnosis of sacroiliac joint pain: validity of individual provocation tests and composites of tests.
        Man Ther. 2005; 10: 207-218
        • Juch JNS
        • Maas ET
        • Osteo RWJG
        • et al.
        Effect of radiofrequency denervation on pain intensity among patients with chronic low back pain: the mint randomized clinical trials.
        JAMA. 2017; 318: 68-81
        • Porter ME
        • Lee TH.
        The strategy that will fix health care.
        Harvard Business Rev. 2013; 91: 50-70
        • 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
        • de Vroome EM
        • Uegaki K
        • van der Ploeg CP
        • et al.
        Burden of sickness absence due to chronic disease in the dutch workforce from 2007 to 2011.
        J Occup Rehabil. 2015; 25: 675-684
        • Dieleman JL
        • Baral R
        • Birger M
        • et al.
        US Spending on personal health care and public health, 1996–2013.
        JAMA. 2016; 316: 2627-2646
        • Martin BI
        • Deyo RA
        • Mirza SK
        • et al.
        Expenditures and health status among adults with back and neck problems.
        JAMA. 2008; 299: 656-664
        • Carragee EJ
        • Deyo RA
        • Kovacs FM
        • et al.
        Is the spine field a mine field?.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 423-430
        • Deyo RA
        • Mirza SK
        • Turner JA
        • et al.
        Overtreating chronic back pain: time to back off?.
        J Am Board Fam Med. 2009; 22: 62-68
        • Sharma AK
        • Vorobeychik Y
        • Wasserman R
        • et al.
        The Effectiveness and risks of fluoroscopically guided lumbar interlaminar epidural steroid injections: a systematic review with comprehensive analysis of the published data.
        Pain Med. 2017; 18: 239-251
      3. Evidence-Based Clinical Guidelines for Multidisciplinary Spine Care: Diagnosis & Treatment of Low Back Pain. North American Spine Society (NASS), Burr Ridge, IL, USA2020
        • Pangarkar SS
        • Kang DG
        • Sandbrink F
        • et al.
        VA/DoD clinical practice guideline: diagnosis and treatment of low back pain.
        J Gen Intern Med. 2019; 34: 2620-2629
        • Chou R
        • Atlas SJ
        • Stanos SP
        • et al.
        Nonsurgical interventional therapies for low back pain: a review of the evidence for an American Pain Society clinical practice guideline.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 1078-1093
        • Henschke N
        • Kuijpers T
        • Rubinstein SM
        • et al.
        Injection therapy and denervation procedures for chronic low-back pain: a systematic review.
        Eur Spine J. 2010; 19: 1425-1449
        • Itz CJ
        • Willems PC
        • Zeilstra DJ
        • et al.
        Dutch multidisciplinary guideline for invasive treatment of pain syndromes of the lumbosacral spine.
        Pain Pract. 2016; 16: 90-110
      4. Low Back Pain and Sciatica in Over 16s: Assessment and Management. National Guideline Centre (UK) London: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), London, UK2016
        • Cherkin DC
        • Deyo RA
        • Loeser JD
        • et al.
        An international comparison of back surgery rates.
        Spine. 1994; : 1201-1206
        • Deyo RA
        • Mirza SK.
        The case for restraint in spinal surgery: does quality management have a role to play?.
        Eur Spine J. 2009; 18: 331-337
        • Weiss AJ
        • Elixhauser A
        Trends in Operating room procedures in U.S. hospitals, 2001—2011. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD, US2014
        • Chou R
        • Baisden J
        • Carragee EJ
        • et al.
        Surgery for low back pain. A review of the evidence for an American Pain Society Clinical Practice Guideline.
        Spine. 2009; 34: 1094-1109
        • Bydon M
        • De la Garza-Ramos R
        • Macki M
        • Baker A
        • Gokaslan AK
        • Bydon A.
        Lumbar fusion versus nonoperative management for treatment of discogenic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
        J Spinal Disord Tech. 2014; 27: 297-304
        • 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
        • Chou R
        • Shekelle P.
        Will this patient develop peristant disabling low back pain?.
        JAMA. 2010; 303: 1295-1302
        • Galli F.
        Understanding nociplastic pain: building a bridge between clinical psychology and medicine.
        J Pers Med. 2023; 13: 310
        • Lumley MA
        • Krohner S
        • Marshall LM
        • Schubiner H
        • Yarns BC
        Emotional awareness, and other emotional processes: implications for the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.
        Pain Manag. 2021; 11: 325-332
        • Freburger JK
        • Holmes GM
        • Agans RP
        • et al.
        The rising prevalence of chronic low back pain.
        Arch Intern Med. 2009; 169: 251-258https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2008.543
        • Wand BM
        • O'Connell NE
        Chronic non-specific low back pain – subgroups or a single mechanism?.
        BMJ Musculoskelet Disord. 2008; 9: 11
        • Foster NE
        • Anema JR
        • Cherkin D
        • et al.
        • Lancet Low Back Pain Series Working Group
        Prevention and treatment of low back pain: evidence, challenges, and promising directions.
        Lancet. 2018; 391: 2368-2383
        • Kirkaldy-Willis WH
        • Farfan HF.
        Instability of the lumbar spine.
        Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1982; : 110-123