[Clinical elements of the diagnostic guidelines for low back pain]

If the majority of low back pain spontaneously recover in a few weeks, the main problem is to eliminate the possibility of a specific low back pain due to a serious underlying medical condition with radically different therapeutics and consequences. Medical history and physical examination will make it possible to detect these conditions (tumor, infection, spinal fracture, spondylarthropathy) and to specify useful complementary explorations. The second objective, for which we have few reliable clinical criteria, will consist in specifying the cause of low back problem. Lastly, it will be needed to detect the factors of risk of chronic course in order to improve the medical care which must be early.