Acute Low Back Pain: Causes, Mechanisms, Treatment and Followup
Acute Low Back Pain: Causes, Mechanisms, Treatment and Followup
The purpose of this study is to investigate acute low back pain, its origin, mechanisms, the
 cause of pain, evaluation of treatments and development. Employees from a large local
 manufacturing company are sent for a complete orthopedic and pain evaluation immediately
 after onset of acute low back pain. Thereafter, the included patients are allocated either to
 the advice to stay as active as possible in spite of the pain or to adjust their activity to
 the pain. Pain intensity and physical activity are followed prospectively over seven days
 using a diary and a pedometer.
The purpose of this study is to investigate acute low back pain, its origin, mechanisms, the
 cause of pain, evaluation of treatments and development. Employees from a large local
 manufacturing company are sent for a complete orthopedic and pain evaluation immediately
 after onset of acute low back pain. The patients go through x-ray examinations, physical
 examinations, they complete a battery of questionnaires covering history of acute low back
 pain, lifestyle characteristics, work place factors, psychosocial factors, and indicate pain
 intensity and pain locations. Thereafter the patients are randomly allocated to one of two
 treatment advices: stay active as much as possible in spite of pain or adjust the activity to
 the pain. During seven days after the medical examination the patients wear a pedometer
 attached to the waist and annotate the number of steps and pain intensity, pain location and
 pain-related disability in a diary. A numeric graphic scale is used for pain intensity. Work
 absenteeism and sick leave due to the current acute back pain is collected from the company
 records. Immediate inclusion after pain onset is facilitated with continuous communication
 with the manufactory company. Physical activity and pain development over the seven days is
 investigated statistically using linear mixed models for repeated measures.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Severe acute low back pain, duration within 24h after onset, pain exceeds 50mm on the
 visual analog scale (VAS)

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Sick-leave because of low back pain or in spine in the last month