The Brief Pain Inventory Questionnaire
was simple for most patients to complete
and sensitive to the changes in pain. The score is
normally separated into three pain qualities: pain
related to tissue damage – in this case low back
pain; pain related to abdomen; and radiating pain –
in this case leg pain. In our study we scored
the patients for low back pain and radiating pain.
The physiotherapist and a nurse especially trained
in pain score, intervention and follow-up performed
all assessments. They were not member of
the clinical staff and did not participate in the daily
patient care. They were not blinded, however,
because we could not guarantee that the patients
would not disclose their allocation group, and it
would be impossible to blind the patients