My Back Hurts! Diagnosis and Treatment of Back Pain

Back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek medical care and is the most common reason for disability and missed work. Every provider taking care of patients will see this chief complaint often. It is very important to understand the pathophysiology of the various causes of back pain, to recognize important red flags of more emergent diagnoses that if missed and not treated timely can lead to permanent impairment, to learn a proper evaluation and work-up and what are the appropriate tests needed to arrive at the diagnosis, and to learn what the treatment options are for the different diagnoses.