The management of low back pain
- Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Canada
- Correspondence to: Dr M Rossignol, Montreal Department of Public Health, 1301 Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal, Canada H2L 1M3; mrossign{at}santepub-mtl.qc.ca
Better integrated care for workers with low back pain is required
When Walter Spitzer released his Quebec Task Force report on spinal disorders in 1987, the medical community was ready to receive the message that activity was better than bed rest in the management of low back pain.1 Physicians could be convinced not so much by the scientific evidence that existed at the time (the Task Force had worked on one single abstract2) but by their instinct and experience with other health problems such as fractures and coronary heart disease that had led the way to changing an old dogma. Bed rest was no longer to be recommended for these problems unless limited to the strict minimum. With an abundance of scientific evidence following worldwide in the 1990s to support the principle of activity in the management of low back …
