Lives on hold: a qualitative synthesis exploring the experience of chronic low-back pain.
OBJECTIVE
Chronic nonspecific low-back pain (CLBP) is a prevalent, costly condition that is remarkably resistant to intervention. Substantial evidence suggests that a mismatch exists between the biomedical beliefs held by clinicians and patients and the biopsychosocial nature of CLBP experience. The aim of this metasynthesis of qualitative studies was to provide clinicians with a richer understanding of their patients' CLBP experience to highlight the importance of moving away from biomedical paradigms in the clinical management of CLBP.


METHODS
Qualitative studies exploring the CLBP experience from the perspective of the individual were included. Twenty-five articles representing 18 studies involving 713 participants were subjected to the 3-stage analytic process of extraction/coding, grouping, and abstraction.


RESULTS
Three main themes emerged: the social construction of CLBP; the psychosocial impact of the nature of CLBP; and coping with CLBP.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors conceptualize the experience of CLBP as biographical suspension in which 3 aspects of suspension are described: suspended "wellness," suspended "self," and suspended "future". The implications of improved clinician understanding of the CLBP experience and directions for future research are discussed.
*School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University, Perth †Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia ‡Wisdom Health Pty Ltd, West Perth, WA, Australia.
Samantha
S
Bunzli
Rochelle
R
Watkins
Anne
A
Smith
Rob
R
Schütze
Peter
P
O'Sullivan
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D058443:Catastrophization / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult