Treatment of chronic back pain. Current standards

Back pain is a significant medical problem and one of the most common causes of medical consultations and missed work. In acute low back pain, patients with "red flags" indicating a serious underlying spinal or extraspinal disease must be identified by medical evaluation. Most cases of acute back pain are non-specific, and education, physical activity and pain medication is recommended. In addition, yellow flags (risks of developing chronic pain) should be recognized. The management of low back pain has been addressed by the German National Disease Management Guideline (NVL) low back pain published in 2010. This guideline evaluates the evidence and effectiveness of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions with a focus on nonspecific back pain. For chronic nonspecific low back pain intervention based on nondrug and drug therapy and a multiprofessional assessment is recommended. In patients with chronic inflammatory low back pain with onset before the age of 45, rheumatic spondyloarthritis should be considered. Recently, a guideline (S3-Leitlinie) for the management of axial spondyloarthritis including ankylosing spondylitis has become available. It provides evidence of physical and drug therapy including nonsteroidal antirheumatic and Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor therapy.