The public health significance of low back pain results from the economic and social burdens it places on industrialized societies. The primary objective of this paper is to create a definition of low back pain recurrence based on present scientific literature. No unified definition has been offered in current research and a universally accepted definition will help advance the study and treatment of low back pain recurrence. The need for a unified definition comes from the fact it is not easy to compare the various studies of recurrent low back pain. This limitation affects the treatment patients are given and the outcomes they experience.
Building on our primary objective of creating a unified definition of low back pain we will then take the definition and use it to evaluate available databases (UPMC Health Plan and Workers Compensation) for low back pain recurrence. The definition and the available data will be used to evaluate the costs, both direct (medical and workers compensation) and indirect (related to lost work time, etc, associated with low back pain). This will be useful in comparing the medical and personnel costs aspects of patients with recurrent low back pain to those without recurrent low back pain. By performing this analysis we will be able to estimate the costs savings of effective treatment for low back pain recurrence.
Using the definition of low back pain recurrence developed and the data and clinical resources available we will develop an intervention to reduce recurrence rates of work related low back pain. Specific treatment groups will be identified and compared in a prospective analysis to the usual care low back pain patients receive. The results of this aspect of the study will be used to decide if the proposed treatment was able to reduce medical and other costs as predicted when compared to any increased costs specific treatments may entail.
Finally, the rationale for a new universally accepted definition of recurrent low back pain will be given. I will then give a brief outline of a step-wise process to be used by future researchers in addressing recurrent low back pain.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-06152006-162445 |
| Date | 07 August 2006 |
| Creators | Petrisko, John H. |
| Contributors | Thomas Songer, Joseph Schwerha, Anthony Delitto, Jay Harper |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-06152006-162445/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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