For all their exposure to the problem, primary care physicians often have little formal education on the management of back pain. Most medical students are not required to take a rotation in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Additionally, and for good reason, most patients are not convinced that their family physician is the person to see for back problems and seek out specialist care as soon as practicable. Back pain is a complex tangle of social, psychological, physical, and medical factors that frustrates disease-orientated physicians and excites physical medicine and rehabilitation types. For this problem, diagnosis-treat-cure is supplanted by rehab strategies to minimize impairment, disability, and handicap. Physical medicine approaches to cure and rehabilitation approaches to quality of life are centerpieces of back pain management. The newest volume in the ACP Key Diseases series, Back Pain presents 40 chapters of vital information divided into five sections: Back Pain Basics; Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Back Pain; and Special Issues, including pregnant and elderly patients, and athletes and younger patients. Clinicians will find this an invaluable resource for successful back pain therapy.
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