Management of Nonspecific Low Back Pain by Physiotherapists in Britain and Ireland
SpinePublished 1 July 1999
Nadine E. Foster, Kate A. Thompson, David Baxter, James M. Allen
Citations292
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.22
SNIP1.48
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Analysis of the results indicated the overall popularity of the Maitland mobilization and McKenzie approaches among physiotherapists, and a marked difference in opinion among therapists regarding the optimal type of exercise for low back pain was obvious.
Abstract
The results of this study emphasize the need to evaluate further and improve the dissemination of findings regarding the effectiveness of specific physiotherapy approaches for low back pain management.
Keywords
Medicine
PainEfficacy of multidisciplinary pain treatment centers: a meta-analytic review
1,229 Citations1992Herta Flor, Thomas Fydrich +1 more
The results tend to support the efficacy of multidisciplinary pain treatment; however, these results must be interpreted cautiously as the quality of the study designs and study descriptions is marginal.
SpinePhysician Office Visits for Low Back Pain
889 Citations1995L G Hart, Richard A. Deyo +1 more
The frequency of office visits for low back pain, the content of ambulatory care, and how these vary by physician specialty are characterized and visit, referral, and management patterns among specialties providing the most care are described.
Journal of the Royal Society of MedicineJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine
710 Citations1978J. V. Dacie
SpineNeck Pain: A Long-term Follow-up of 205 Patients
638 Citations1987Donald R. Gore, SUSAN B. SEPIC +2 more
SpineLow Back Pain: A Twentieth Century Health Care Enigma
551 Citations1996Gordon Waddell
There are striking differences in health care for low back pain in the United States and the United Kingdom, although neither delivers the kind of care recommended by recent evidence‐based guidelines.
SpinePhysician Views About Treating Low Back Pain
515 Citations1995Daniel C. Cherkin, Richard A. Deyo +2 more
A lack of consensus among physicians about treatment efficacy for patients with low back pain could be attributable to the absence of clear evidencebsed clinical guidelines, ignorance or rejection of existing scientific evidence, excessive commitment to a particular mode of therapy, or a tendency to discount the efficacy of competing treatments.
SpineMeasuring the Functional Status of Patients With Low Back Pain
492 Citations1995Anna Beurskens, Henrica C. W. de Vet +3 more
In the absence of a gold standard, direct comparisons of evaluative functional status questionnaires in a single patient group are needed through direct comparisons, comparative validity and responsiveness can be assessed.
Annual Review of Public HealthCost, Controversy, Crisis: Low Back Pain and the Health of the Public
462 Citations1991R. A. Deyo, D Cherkin +2 more
Physical TherapyManaging Low Back Pain: Attitudes and Treatment Preferences of Physical Therapists
307 Citations1994Michele C. Battié, Daniel C. Cherkin +3 more
There were significant variations among therapists in private practice, hospital-operated, and health maintenance organization settings with respect to treatment preferences, willingness to take advantage of the placebo effect, and mean number of visits for patients with back pain.
SpineUse of Noninvasive Techniques for Quantification of Spinal Range-of-Motion in Normal Subjects and Chronic Low-Back Dysfunction Patients
294 Citations1984Tom G. Mayer, Allan F. Tencer +2 more
A simple, single inclinometer modification of the method of Loebl is presented, which offers the opportunity to separate the components of the compound motion of hip and spine.
SpineSpinal Manipulation for Low Back Pain
279 Citations1996Bart W. Koes, Willem JJ Assendelft +2 more
The efficacy of spinal manipulation for patients with acute or chronic low back pain has not been demonstrated with sound randomized clinical trials, but there certainly are indications that manipulation might be effective in some subgroups of patients withLow back pain.
JAMAConservative Therapy for Low Back Pain
278 Citations1983Richard A. Deyo
Conservative therapies for low back pain entail expense, work loss, and risk of side effects, so valid trials supporting use of corsets, bed rest, transcutaneous nerve stimulation, and conventional traction were not found.
SpineA Prospective Study of Centralization of Lumbar and Referred Pain
274 Citations1997Ronald Donelson, Charles N. Aprill +2 more
The McKenzie assessment process reliably differentiated discogenic from nondiscogenic pain as well as competent from an incompetent anulus and was superior to magnetic resonance imaging in distinguishing painful from nonpainful discs.
Journal of Epidemiology & Community HealthLow back pain in eight areas of Britain.
252 Citations1992Kerryann Walsh, M Cruddas +1 more
Geographical variation in rates of general practice consultation for low back pain in Britain is due largely to differences in patient behaviour once symptoms have developed and the distribution of important causes of low back back pain across the country is probably fairly uniform.
SpineLow Back Pain
243 Citations1996Richard A. Deyo, William R. Phillips
Primary care investigators studying back pain face at least three important challenges: one is to identify more efficient diagnostic strategies that will alleviate doctors' and patients' anxieties, two is to develop a better theory to explain the large majority of episodes of nonspecific low back pain, and third is to better science.
BMJPhysiotherapy exercises and back pain: a blinded review.
242 Citations1991Bart W. Koes, L.M. Bouter +3 more
No conclusion can be drawn about whether exercise therapy is better than other conservative treatments for back pain or whether a specific type of exercise is more effective.
SpineComparative Validity of the Sickness Impact Profile and Shorter Scales for Functional Assessment in Low-Back Pain
236 Citations1986Richard A. Deyo
The modified Roland Scale appeared to have reliability, validity, and sensitivity that were at least as good as the overall SIP or its major subscales, although the Roland Scale did not measure psychosocial function well.
Physical TherapyThe Efficacy of Traction for Back and Neck Pain: A Systematic, Blinded Review of Randomized Clinical Trial Methods
224 Citations1995Geert J. van der Heijden, Anna JHM Beurskens +4 more
There are no clear indications, however, that traction is an ineffective therapy for back and neck pain, and much more attention should be paid to proper design and conduct, as well as to clear descriptions of crucial methodological features and results.
SpinePsychosocial Factors in the Workplace-Do They Predict New Episodes of Low Back Pain?
193 Citations1997A C Papageorgiou, Gary J. Macfarlane +4 more
People dissatisfied with work are more likely to report low back pain for which they do not consult a physician, whereas lower social status and perceived inadequacy of income are independent risks for working people to seek consultation because of low backPain.
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related ResearchPredictors of Low Back Pain Disability
191 Citations1987John W. Frymoyer, William L. Cats‐Baril
The multiattribute utility model is a new experimental approach to prediction of disability that offers a promising method of answering the question, "Can low back disability be predicted?"
Physical TherapyPhysical Therapy Episodes of Care for Patients With Low Back Pain
190 Citations1994Alan M. Jette, Kevin Smith +2 more
Primary analysis of data from the American Physical Therapy Association's Survey of Physical Therapy Outpatient Practice provides new descriptive data on services provided to a national, representative sample of patients discharged from hospital-based and private outpatient practices.
PubMedCentralization phenomenon. Its usefulness in evaluating and treating referred pain.
186 Citations1990Ronald Donelson, Gustavo Silva +1 more
The LancetMULTICENTRE TRIAL OF PHYSIOTHERAPY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF SCIATIC SYMPTOMS
168 Citations1981C E Coxhead
In the short-term, active physiotherapy with several treatments appears to be of value in the outpatient management of patients with sciatic symptoms, but it does not seem to confer any longer-term benefit.
SpineCentralization Phenomenon
163 Citations1990Ronald Donelson, GREGORY SILVA +1 more
In patients with low-back and radiating leg pain, nonoccurrence of centralization accurately predicts poor treatment outcome and was a helpful early predictor of the need for surgical treatment.
SpineDoes Nonsurgical Pain Center Treatment of Chronic Pain Return Patients to Work?
161 Citations1994Robert B. Cutler, David A. Fishbain +4 more
The results indicate that chronic pain nonsurgical treatment does return patients to work; increased rates of return to work are due to treatment, and benefits of treatment are not temporary.
PainA fitness programme for patients with chronic low back pain: 2-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial
151 Citations1998Helen Frost, Sarah E Lamb +3 more
Clinical effectiveness of a fitness programme 2 years after treatment is demonstrated but this needs to be replicated in a larger study which should include a cost effectiveness analysis, further analysis of objective functional status and a placebo intervention group.
SpineMethodological Quality of Randomized Clinical Trials on Treatment Efficcact in Low Back Pain
148 Citations1995Bart W. Koes, L.M. Bouter +1 more
Although a considerable number of randomized clinical trials have been carried out to evaluate the effecacy of interventions in low back pain, their methodological quality appears to be disappointingly low.
Journal of Occupational and Environmental MedicineThe Cost of Compensable Low Back Pain
145 Citations1990Barbara S. Webster, Stover H. Snook
Cost data were retrieved from all claims of low back pain initiated during 1986 from computerized records of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and large variations were found to exist among different states.
SpineExercises: Which Ones Are Worth Trying, for Which Patients, and When?
139 Citations1996A. Faas
In acute back pain, exercise therapy is ineffective, whereas in subacute backPain, exercises with a graded activity program, and in chronic back pain; intensive exercising, deserve attention.
PainEtiological theories and treatments for chronic back pain. I. Somatic models and interventions
134 Citations1984Herta Flor, Dennis C. Turk
This paper will address the pathophysiology of CBP, the somatic conceptualizations that have been developed, and the treatment modalities that has been employed to alleviate the symptoms.
PhysiotherapyA Survey of Electrotherapeutic Modalities: Ownership and Use in the NHS in England
130 Citations1995GD Pope, SP Mockett +1 more
Analysis indicates a core of five modalities with high ownership combined with regular frequency of use, which thus provide the mainstays of electrotherapy practice, which has implications for education in this area at both undergraduate and post-registration level.
SpineEfficacy of Spinal Manipulation/Mobilization Therapy
93 Citations1985Kenneth J. Ottenbacher, RICHARD P. DIFABIO
SpineConservative Treatment of Acute Low Back Pain
88 Citations1995Radisav Stankovic, Olof Johnell
The results showed thatSubjects who received treatment according to the McKenzie principle 5 years earlier had significantly less recurrences of pain and fewer were on sick leave compared with the subjects who received education in mini back school.
Physical TherapyPhysician Referral to Physical Therapy in a Cohort of Workers Compensated for Low Back Pain
87 Citations1996Debbie Ehrmann-Feldman, Michel Rossignol +2 more
It is demonstrated that physicians request physical therapy services based on certain patient characteristics, which indicates that timing of physical therapy is an important factor in the rehabilitation of workers with low back pain.
SpineA Randomized Trial of Exercise Therapy in Patients With Acute Low Back Pain
86 Citations1995A. Faas, J. Th. M. van Eijk +2 more
Exercise therapy for patients with acute low back pain does not reduce sickness absence and patients who had not reported sick at entry had more sickness absences during the follow-up year than patients in the usual care and placebo group.
PainEditorial
83 Citations1998Steven J. Linton
An editorial is presented on the developments which bring hope and opportunity not only for a return to how things were before but for how things might be better.
Physical TherapyAre Measures of Function and Disability Important in Low Back Care?
80 Citations1994Anthony Delitto
This article will focus on impairments and patient self-reports of quality of life and will discuss the relationship between impairments, functional limitations, and disability in LBS.
SpineManagement of Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain in Primary Care: A Descriptive Study
72 Citations1997Maurits W. van Tulder, Bart W. Koes +2 more
Clinical guidelines are needed to improve the management of chronic low back pain in primary care as diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for patients with chronicLow back pain seem to lack consistency.
Acta Orthopaedica ScandinavicaAuto-Traction for Treatment of Lumbago-Sciatica:<i>A Multicentre Controlled Investigation</i>
68 Citations1980Ulf Larsson, U Chöler +5 more
The Auto-traction method gave prompt relief of pain and a normalizing of the SLR test more often than treatment with only a corset and rest, and the difference between the two treatment groups was statistically significant.
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related ResearchSpinal Manipulative Therapy
67 Citations1983Stanley V. Paris
Manipulation is the skilled, gentle, passive movement of a joint (or spinal segment) either within or beyond its active range of motion, ranging from the more traditional thrust to oscillation and distraction.
British Journal of Therapy and RehabilitationClinical assessment of pain by the visual analogue scale
64 Citations1996Jackie Waterfield, Julius Sim
The use of the visual analogue scale as a method of assessing pain in the everyday clinical situation is examined, and some practical issues regarding its use are considered.
PubMedA comparison of outcome measures for use with back pain patients: results of a feasibility study.
63 Citations1993Triano Jj, Marion McGregor +2 more
The Oswestry and Visual Analogue Pain Scale were the most reliable and responsive to clinical change for musculoskeletal disorders and the modified Zung with respect to both gender and time.
PubMedInitial assessment and follow-up by a physiotherapist of patients with back pain referred to a spinal clinic.
61 Citations1994Patrick Hourigan, CR Weatherley
To reduce waiting times and costs, a specially trained physiotherapist was employed to review 100 patients with back pain referred by general practitioners to a spinal clinic; 78% proved to have a spinal disorder.
PhysiotherapyOutcome Measures Used in Therapy Departments in Scotland
52 Citations1996Rosemary Chesson, Margaret Macleo +1 more
Occupational and physiotherapy departments in Scotland were surveyed to establish the extent to which outcome measures, and especially standardised measures, were used, and more positive than negative views were expressed.
PhysiotherapyPhysical Therapy for Patients with Back Pain
50 Citations1995Roelof WA van der Valk, Joost Dekker +1 more
It was found that the physical therapy diagnosis and treatment vary with the duration of back pain, and exercise therapy and massage are more often used in the treatment of the patients.
PhysiotherapyEfficacy of Lumbar Traction: A Randomised Clinical Trial
45 Citations1995GJMG van der Heijden, AJHM Beurskens +3 more
The results for most outcome measures favoured high dose traction, treatment versus control group: 64% v 34% at five weeks, and 45% v 25% at nine weeks.
PhysiotherapySpinal Stabilisation
39 Citations1995Christopher M. Norris
The concept of sensory-motor stimulation is introduced and the importance of sub-cortical control of active lumbar stabilisation (ALS) is emphasised, and patients are taught to exercise within their pain-free range of motion, a position termed the functional position or safety zone.
Physiotherapy PracticeUltrasound in physiotherapy in the United Kingdom: Results of a questionnaire
36 Citations1988Gail ter Haar, Mary Dyson +1 more
The topics covered by the questionnaire included the range of conditions treated, contra-indications for using ultrasound, technical details of the machines and exposures used, and the numbers of treatments carried out.
Physical TherapyClinical Uses of TENS
34 Citations1980Susan L Paxton
Most clinicians applying TENS were satisfied with the effectiveness of the modality in relieving acute, chronic, and psychogenic pain and pain relief with short-term use of TENS was more satisfactory than with long- term use.
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related ResearchAssessment of Lumbar Function
15 Citations1987Tom G. Mayer
The absence of visual feedback forces an assessment of impairment that is often based on a subjective patient self-report and inaccurate goniometric mobility measures that lead to broad variances in impairment/disability ratings.
Physical Therapy ReviewsResearching low back pain? An overview of the pitfalls
12 Citations1998Nadine E. Foster
The common problems inherent within low back pain research are discussed, identifying some avoidable pitfalls and many unanswered questions.
British Journal of Therapy and RehabilitationThe use of the McKenzie approach to treat back pain
6 Citations1996Andrew Holdom
Supporting evidence to the concepts of the McKenzie approach to treat back pain and the growing trend towards encouraging early activity and physical therapy if symptoms last more than a few days will be reviewed.