Beliefs about low back pain in the norwegian general population : Are they related to pain experiences and health professionals?

• Published in: Spine (Philadelphia, Pa. 1976) Pa. 1976), 2005-08, Vol.30 (15), p.1770-1776
• Main Authors: WERNER, Erik L, IHLEBAEK, Camilla, SKOUEN, Jan Sture, LAERUM, Even
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Analgesics; Attitude to Health; Biological and medical sciences; Cerebrospinal fluid. Meninges. Spinal cord; Chi-Square Distribution; Confidence Intervals; Culture; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Personnel - psychology; Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Low Back Pain - epidemiology; Low Back Pain - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurology; Neuropharmacology; Norway; Pain - epidemiology; Pain - psychology; Pain Measurement - psychology; Pain Measurement - statistics & numerical data; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Somesthesis and somesthetic pathways (proprioception, exteroception, nociception); interoception; electrolocation. Sensory receptors; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
• ISSN: 0362-2436; 1528-1159
• DOI: 10.1097/01.brs.0000171909.81632.fe

A baseline study of the general population and the health care providers in 3 Norwegian counties. To investigate if beliefs about low back pain (LBP) are related to personal experiences and profession sought for care. Myths about LBP that are abandoned by health professionals are still alive in the public. Such myths represent pain avoidance beliefs and passive coping strategies that may hinder normal spontaneous recovery from an episode of LBP. A sample of 1502 randomly selected people was interviewed by telephone, and all the 1105 physicians, physiotherapists, and chiropractors in the area were sent a questionnaire in April 2002. All respondents gave their responses in terms of degree of agreement to 6 statements reflecting beliefs about LBP. Personal back pain experiences were important for beliefs about LBP. People with a history of previous back pain had more faith in the 2 statements "Back pain recovers best by itself" (52.2%) and "In most cases back pain recovers by itself in a couple of weeks" (32.5%) than those with current pain (36.9% and 20.9%, respectively, P < 0.000). There were significant differences in beliefs between physicians and the chiropractors concerning the same 2 statements, and these differences were also reflected in the beliefs of patients treated by the different professional groups. Belief in spontaneous recovery from LBP seems to be positively correlated to previous experience with LBP without current pain. Patients of the various health care providers seem to have a faith in spontaneous recovery similar to that of their health care provider. These differences may frustrate the public and patients who visit more than one provider, and hinder collaboration among professional groups.