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Richard A. Deyo, MD,MPH

Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:1447A-1448.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

DR ABRAHAM, Ms Killackey-Jones, and I may be debating different but related controversies. I have focused on the use of imaging for LBP, while they have focused on the taxonomy of low back disorders. Perhaps unlike Abraham and Killackey-Jones, I do not believe that anyone set out to create or define a category of nonspecific LBP or to advocate it. It emerged by default as a consequence of failure to identify anatomic or physiologic changes that would clearly explain symptoms.

Probably no one is happy with the nonspecific category, and everyone hopes that specific diagnoses will differentiate from this amorphous group. The failure of previous taxonomies to achieve consensus suggests we have a way to go. Grouping patients by clinical findings, as suggested by Abraham and Killackey-Jones, seems perfectly reasonable and may be clinically useful.

A problem with the syndromic approach is that, for most patients, . . . [Full Text of this Article]