The patient with acute low back pain

Abstract

The twelve symptoms and signs in Table 1 constitute the most common significant clinical syndrome in the constellation of syndromes in which “acute low back pain” is the central unifying symptom. It is rare, however, that the actual patient’s symptoms and signs have a one-to-one correspondence with this list. One or several of the twelve can be missing. However, significant deviations from this list should warn the clinician that a different and possibly more serious pathological condition may be present. Conversely, absolute correspondence with this list does not guarantee that the pathologies described below are the cause of the patient’s symptoms. The physician must be diligent in observing the patient’s changing state so as to detect changes that will require a new analysis of the patient’s status and a new approach to diagnosis and treatment.