Low Back Pain
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Fall 1994
Volume 5, Number 2
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Abstracts
of this issue appear
below. Send e-mail or call 303-788-4010 to order a printed copy.
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 Abstracts
Education in the Assessment and
Management of Low Back Pain
William T. Evans, MD
Despite progress in identifying and
treating the pathology of low back pain, medical and
surgical management has not decreased the incidence of
low back disability. An educational approach empowers the
patient with low back pain to be an active participant in
recovery and return to useful function. The challenge is
to hold the tension between the patient’s
responsibility and pathology, and to know when overriding
the patient’s power and self-care skills with
intervention will result in an improved outcome.
Imaging the Low Back in the
‘90s
Charles E. Seibert, MD
An understanding of the impact of
imaging techniques upon patient management and outcomes
in low back pain syndromes is one of the challenges of
the current health-care environment. This review
discusses imaging terms and modalities, and explores the
question, Is imaging really necessary.?
Low Back Pain: Indications for Surgery
John H. McVicker, MD
To predict the outcome for low back
surgery, the process responsible for the pain must be
clearly defined and the impact of surgical intervention
on that process must be understood. This review outlines
pathologies most likely to produce low back and radicular
pain, indications for proceeding beyond non-operative
management, and what can reasonable be accomplished by
surgical intervention.
Low Back Pain: Is Fusion Ever
Indicated?
Brain E.H. Reiss, MD
Fusion of the lumbosacral spine may
be indicated in some cases of destructive processes, such
as fracture, tumor, or infection. Less clearly defined
are the indications in cases of spondylolisthesis, spinal
stenosis, disc herniation, and degenerative disc disease.
Diagnostic testing does not always produce findings that
correlate with the end results of treatment. The relative
strength of each indication is outlined.
Low Back Pain: Treatment and
Rehabilitation Principles
L. Barton Goldman, MD
Since rehabilitation is essentially
an educational process, most patients with low back pain
benefit from exposure to rehabilitation concepts. The key
questions are when to apply more structured and costly
rehabilitation strategies, and which of those strategies
will result in the best outcomes for specific patient
population. This article reviews basic rehabilitation
principles, based upon recently published clinical
research and practice parameters, that offer rational
answers to these questions.
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