The guidelines in the Journal of the American College of Radiology include:
Doctors categorizing patients into one of three areas, non-specific low back pain, low back pain associated with compression of a nerve, or low back pain associated with a specific cause.
They also provide evidence based information for each category of patient.
Lower back pain is one of the most common reasons for outpatient visits to doctors. But experts say there is a lack of consistency in how to best handle these cases.
