6 Given the frequency of patients presenting with back pain, clinicians must perform a thorough evaluation of patients with lumbar complaints. Reasons contributing to missed diagnoses include cognitive errors, knowledge gaps, and overlooked signs and symptoms. 5 Serious pathology can exist in some patients, and critical diagnoses often are missed on initial presentation. 5 Most nonspecific back pain cases are self-limiting, resolve in 4 to 6 weeks, and are the cause of an estimated 90% of lumbar complaints. The most common form of low back pain is designated nonspecific or mechanical, because it lacks a pathoanatomic cause.
3,4 According to the CDC, back-related complaints accounted for more than 3.6 million visits to EDs and more than 5.7 million encounters at urgent and ambulatory care clinics in 2016.
1,2 Recent trends of patients seeking care for low back pain demonstrate an upsurge in urgent care and ambulatory care visits, although ED visits have declined slightly.
Low back pain is an increasingly common reason that patients seek visits with healthcare providers, and a leading cause of disability globally, with an estimated worldwide incidence of 7.3%.
0 kommentar(er)
