A new sign of inappropriate lower back pain.
The treatment of lower back pain constitutes a major problem for orthopaedic surgeons. Identifying the patients who have a non-organic component to their lower back pain is often difficult. Waddell et al. (Waddell G, McCulloch HA, Kummel E, Venner RM. Non-organic physical signs in low-back pain. Spine 1980; 5: 117-25) devised a set of five physical signs to assist in determining this. These signs are time consuming and can be difficult to interpret. We have developed a sign that is simple, quick and easy to perform. In a set of 94 patients, we have compared our sign with Waddell's signs. Our sign has a highly significant correlation with Waddell's signs (chi2 = 55.093, P < 0.001), and thus we would suggest it as an accurate alternative to Waddell's signs.
Blom
Ashley
A
Avon Orthopaedic Centre, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK. blocat@msn.com
Taylor
Adrian
A
Whitehouse
Sarah
S
Orr
Bill
B
Smith
Evert
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods*