Unravelling the mysteries of back pain

April 7, 2006

Researchers at Keele University in Staffordshire, UK, have begun to

disentangle the problem of chronic back pain using new statistical

analyses. They found that simply describing people as aving " chronic

back pain " might not be very useful.

The team from the Primary Care Sciences Research Centre at Keele

carried out an in depth study of how peoples' back pain changed over

time and found four different pathways.

Dr Kate Dunn said: " We have found that people experience

different 'pain pathways', which might need different types of

treatment. "

" The use of an 'umbrella term' of chronic does not seem appropriate

and our classification into four pathways of persistent mild,

recovering, fluctuating and severe chronic does provides a more

detailed alternative. Classification of primary care patients into

these groups may help the management of non-specific low back pain

and contribute to future trials of treatment. "

Understanding the course of low back pain is important for clinicians

and researchers because it provides information on the need for, and

potential benefits of, treatment. It also helps patients learn what

to expect in terms of symptoms, the impact of the problem on their

life and the treatments they may receive.

The aim of the study was to identify and describe groups of primary

care low back pain patients defined by their patterns of change in,

or stability of, pain over time.

The researchers found that although most people report that their

back pain improves after visiting their GP, not everyone recovers

completely. Some people constantly have severe pain, many continue to

have mild but lasting symptoms and a few find that their back pain

fluctuates.

The analysis was based on data for 342 primary care low back pain

sufferers, aged 30 to 59, in Staffordshire, who took part in the

study.

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