[Managing low back pain]

This review summarises how non-specific low back pain is a common and recurrent symptom among people of all ages, and a leading cause of disability that is projected to increase in the coming decades. It is a clinical diagnosis that is most often made in primary care without imaging. Serious medical causes of low back pain are rare but must be considered. Recent evidence-based guidelines recommend a shift away from pharmacological treatment to supported self-management through patient education and treatments that help people remain physically active and at work. This is poorly implemented in health systems.