title: Pain as the fifth vital sign: how can I tell when back pain is serious.
abstract: An increasingly common query from patients relate to the recommendation that pain be considered the fifth vital sign. The American Pan Society championed that effort several years ago to increase patients' awareness that pain should be asked about, monitored, and managed. Now the federal Department of Veterans Affairs has also adopted this terminology in its pain management programs. Another common question from patients is when back pain should be considered serious. These two topics are addressed in language suitable for patient counseling.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, 95817, USA. smfishman@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Scott M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Fishman
mesh_terms: D001416:Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D019985:Benchmarking; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010147:Pain Measurement