Overcoming the challenge of back pain complaints

Back pain is one of the more challenging aspects of medical care, for which many physicians feel unprepared. The dichotomy between mechanical and inflammatory derivation is blurred and the possibility of referred pain is always present. Solutions are facilitated with careful localization and identification of exacerbating and ameliorating factors. Fibromyalgia, pain reproducible by pressure on specific points, must be distinguished from general body pain. It is the clinical evaluation that allows distinguishing among the most common causes of back pain and assures minimal chance of overlooking non-musculoskeletal explanations. Removal of narcotics from the therapeutic armamentarium is a good start. Pain is often accompanied by depression, although common measures of depression are not specific, being a component of the pain itself. Mechanical solutions to back pain, whether perceived as mechanical or inflammatory in derivation, are reasonable initial approaches. Finally, the importance of sleep hygiene cannot be overemphasized, as disturbed sleep aggravates pain, even if it is not the initiating factor. This article addresses back pain amenability not only to clinical diagnosis but also to effective intervention.