Patient information is one of the key components in the management of lower back pain (LBP). A Danish cross-sectoral study of the extent to which patients with LBP receive the recommended information in connection with their first visit to their general practitioner, chiropractor, or physiotherapist, shows that there is room for improvement.
In more than a quarter (28%) of the first consultations, a patient did not receive the recommended information.
The study revealed great variation in giving information across the types of practitioners: 44% of the patients who visited their GP, 74% of the patients seeing physiotherapists and 76% seeing chiropractors received the recommended information.
The proportion of patients who received information was higher (78%) if the patients had signs of elevated stress levels or back-related leg pain radiating below the knee.
Lars Morsø, Jesper Lykkegaard, Merethe Kirstine Andersen, Anders Hansen, Mette Jensen Stochkendahl, Simon Dyrløv Madsen, Berit Schiøttz Christensen. Providing information at the initial consultation to patients with low back pain across general practice, chiropractic and physiotherapy - a cross-sectorial study of Danish primary care. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care 2022.
Read the research paper