Preventing Chronic Disability from Low Back Pain - Welfare.ie

RENAISSANCE PROJECTPreventing Chronic Disability from Low Back Pain1. INTRODUCTIONBack pain is not a new phenomenon. Man has suffered from back painthroughout recorded history. There is no evidence that back pain has increasedin incidence or severity throughout the ages. Despite this, however, in Westernsociety, particularly in the past two decades, there has been a marked increasein chronic disability resulting from low back pain. In the hope of arresting, andperhaps, reversing this trend the Renaissance Project was conceived. Theconduct, conclusions and recommendations of the project are outlined below.2. DEFINITIONSPain The International Association for the Study of Pain defined pain as“an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actualor potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”.Low Back Pain (LBP) is pain in the lumbo-sacral region, buttocks and thighs.Disability The World Health Organisation (WHO) defined disability as “anyrestriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or withinthe range considered normal for a human being”.Chronic Disability is disability lasting continuously for a period of 3 monthsor more.Diagnostic Triage diagnostic tool for the differential diagnosis of LBP.See Appendix A for further details.3. BACKGROUND3.1 Problem Identified6Chronic disability, arising from LBP, is increasing. This trend is common to mostindustrialised countries and worryingly continues in spite of Health and Safety