Senior Scholars Program
Title
Low Back Pain, a Comprehensive Review: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
UMMS Affiliation
School of Medicine; Senior Scholars Program
Faculty Mentor
Matthew Brown, MD
Publication Date
2019-03-11
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Anesthesia and Analgesia | Diagnosis | Medical Education | Medical Physiology | Musculoskeletal Diseases | Therapeutics
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Low back pain encompasses three distinct sources: axial lumbosacral, radicular, and referred pain. Annually, the prevalence of low back pain in the general US adult population is 10-30%, and the lifetime prevalence of US adults is as high as 65-80%.
RECENT FINDINGS: Patient history, physical exam, and diagnostic testing are important components to accurate diagnosis and identification of patient pathophysiology. Etiologies of low back pain include myofascial pain, facet joint pain, sacroiliac joint pain, discogenic pain, spinal stenosis, and failed back surgery. In chronic back pain patients, a multidisciplinary, logical approach to treatment is most effective and can include multimodal medical, psychological, physical, and interventional approaches. Low back pain is a difficult condition to effectively treat and continues to affect millions of Americans every year. In the current investigation, we present a comprehensive review of low back pain and discuss associated pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.
SUMMARY: Low back pain is a difficult condition to effectively treat and continues to affect millions of Americans every year. In the current investigation, we present a comprehensive review of low back pain and discuss associated pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment.
Keywords
Low back pain, Axial low back pain, Referred low back pain, Radiculopathy, Lumbosacral pain
DOI of Published Version
10.1007/s11916-019-0757-1
Source
Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2019 Mar 11;23(3):23. doi: 10.1007/s11916-019-0757-1. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Current pain and headache reports
Related Resources
PubMed ID
30854609
Repository Citation
Urits, Ivan; Burshtein, Aaron; Sharma, Medha; Testa, Lauren; Gold, Peter A.; Orhurhu, Vwaire; Viswanath, Omar; Jones, Mark R.; Sidransky, Moises A.; Spektor, Boris; and Kaye, Alan D., "Low Back Pain, a Comprehensive Review: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment." (2019). University of Massachusetts Medical School. Senior Scholars Program. Paper 269.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/ssp/269
Comments
Lauren Testa participated in this study as a medical student in the Senior Scholars research program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.