The European journal of general practice
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Multicenter Study
Straightforward consultation or complicated condition? General practitioners' perceptions of low back pain.
Low back pain is a common condition in general practice and represents a significant part of a general practitioner's workload. However, despite guidelines, back pain still presents considerable challenges to clinicians. ⋯ GPs adopt a bio-mechanistic approach to LBP which appears to work well for the majority of patients, as the natural history of low back pain dictates that most patients will recover. However, this approach to low back pain fails at the margins and this is evident by the significant minority of persistent sufferers and the GP's reaction to them. Expanding patient-centredness to explore psychological and social dimensions in relation to low back pain presents an ongoing challenge in general practice.