Recognizing, Diagnosing and Managing Emergent Causes of Low Back Pain

Course overview

Low back pain is a common complaint that will present in a variety of practice settings including the Emergency Department, primary care office, urgent care, and rehabilitation facility. While most cases of acute low back pain are benign, self-limited, and musculoskeletal in origin, a small minority can be life-threatening. Thus, it is critical to identify red flag signs and symptoms that point to "can't miss" serious diagnoses that might lead to permanent disability or death if not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. The goal of this course is to provide clinicians with a focused and structured approach for differentiating patients who have benign causes of pain from those who will need a medical workup and possibly advanced imaging.