title: Acute low back pain: diagnostics and treatment.
abstract: How many times have you heard from a patient or groaned yourself "Oh, my aching back?" Innocuous movements such as reaching, stooping, or leaning are halted mid-performance as you sense "something" give, catch, snap, grab, or slide in your lower back. Such subjective complaints may also include sensations of discomfort described as stabbing, sharp, dull, hot/burning, tingling, or numbing. In practice, you will be required to assess these subjective symptoms, effectively document objective data, formulate a diagnosis, and plan appropriate treatment for your patients. Careful attention to history, associated symptoms, and following a systematic approach to back pain can make the rule-in/out differentials less taxing on both the practitioner and the patient.
authors.affiliation: University of North Florida, College of Health, Augustine, FL, USA. faith@aug.com
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000359:Aftercare / Q000379:methods; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017679:Cryotherapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008487:Medical History Taking / Q000379:methods; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal