Management of lower back pain in young Turkish recruits

The aims of this study were to determine the appropriate management strategy for lower back pain in the young male population of the Turkish Army and to analyze the results of surgical treatment of such a common health problem versus medical treatment. Participants in the study included 865 recruits who underwent basic military training between June 2001 and June 2002. All were admitted to our department with the complaint of lower back pain and were evaluated by neurological and radiological examinations. We operated on 23 of them and followed-up by 3 months. We compared the data of surgically and nonsurgically treated patients. In our opinion, the indications for surgery for lower back pain must be strict, and careful selection of patients is needed for a satisfactory outcome.