[Diagnostics of acute and chronic back pain]

Back pain is ranked as the fourth highest medical expense per year. The number of affected patients is constantly increasing because of increasing chronification due to insufficient recognition of the cause.

The diagnosis of back pain is based on three important pillars. On the one hand, a detailed anamnesis and correct clinical examination by the responsible physician is extremely important, followed by an experienced radiologist who is responsible for determining the imaged-based ethiology of the symptoms.

Anamnesis and clinical examination play an important role in identifying patients with a real underlying pathology for the symptomatology in order to provide them with direct imaging for further evaluation. Corresponding pathology in most cases of acute back pain is generally not found but here psychosocial factors ("yellow flags") are in the foreground. Attention should always be paid to the presence of "red flags" and the possibility of extraspinal causes.