Psychological aspects of acute low back pain in general practice

A prospective controlled study of acute low back pain in general practice was carried out. The presence of psychiatric illness was measured by use of the general health questionnaire (GHQ), by clinical assessment, and personality factors by use of the Eysenck personality inventory (EPI). It was found that overall the amount of psychiatric illness did not differ between patients with back pain and their controls at the time of presentation, although there was a higher prevalence of previous psychiatric illness in the back-pain group. The only difference in the personality factors measured was a higher degree of extraversion in the back-pain patients.