Best practice care for acute low back pain: A new clinical standard to assist general practitioners

Low back pain is one of the most common presentations in general practice. Although there is excellent evidence regarding best management of the condition, in primary care there is often overuse of less effective and expensive options, whereas effective, inexpensive options are underused. After broad consultation and evidence review, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has developed a clinical care standard in response to this identified gap between best and actual practice. A clinical care standard focuses only on key areas of care where the need for quality improvement is greatest.

We explore the new standard using a typical patient scenario in primary care to highlight evidence-based approaches for challenging aspects of management, such as imaging and pain management.

General practitioners (GPs) might find the practical GP 'quick guide' resource from the standard useful to support their care of patients with low back pain.