Abstract Low back pain is a leading

Abstract Low back pain is a leading cause of disability. It occurs in similar proportions in all cultures, interferes with quality of life
and work performance, and is the most common reason for medical consultations. Few cases of back pain are due to specific
causes; most cases are non-specific. Acute back pain is the most common presentation and is usually self-limiting, lasting less than
three months regardless of treatment. Chronic back pain is a more difficult problem, which often has strong psychological overlay:
work dissatisfaction, boredom, and a generous compensation system contribute to it. Among the diagnoses offered for chronic
pain is fibromyalgia, an urban condition (the diagnosis is not made in rural settings) that does not differ materially from other
instances of widespread chronic pain. Although disc protrusions detected on X-ray are often blamed, they rarely are responsible
for the pain, and surgery is seldom successful at alleviating it. No single treatment is superior to others; patients prefer
manipulative therapy, but studies have not demonstrated that it has any superiority over others.A WHO Advisory Panel has defined
common outcome measures to be used to judge the efficacy of treatments for studies.
Keywords Low back pain/classification/etiology/therapy; Fibromyalgia; Risk factors; Treatment outcome (source: MeSH, NLM ).
Mots clés Lombalgie/classification/étiologie/thérapeutique; Céllulalgie; Facteur risque; Evaluation résultats traitement (source:
MeSH, INSERM ).
Palabras clave Dolor de la región lumbar/clasificación/etiología/terapia; Fibromialgia; Factores de riesgo; Resultado del
tratamiento (fuente: DeCS, BIREME ).
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2003;81:671-676.