title: Conservative management of low back pain.
abstract: The importance of using appropriate conservative care in the management of low back pain has been increasingly stressed in recent years, initially as a backlash to the many failures following surgical intervention (particularly repeated surgeries), and, more recently, as a means of controlling health care costs and instituting patient-centered systems of care. It is difficult to define and determine just what "appropriate conservative care" is and should be. Perhaps even more important in this current era of health care reform is the question of who makes this determination.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation and Pain Management Associates, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Hoffberg
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001510:Bed Rest; D001915:Braces; D003363:Cost Control; D018450:Disease Progression; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous