Care for Adults With Acute Low Back Pain
Summary
This quality standard addresses care for adults aged 16 years and older who have a first episode of acute low back pain, or who have recurrent episodes of acute low back pain that last less than 12 weeks. The quality standard addresses mechanical low back pain with or without associated leg symptoms, such as radiculopathy caused by compression of a spinal nerve root (a pinched nerve) and neurogenic claudication (painful cramping or weakness in the legs with walking or standing).
Although it applies to care in all settings, this quality standard focuses on primary care and community-based care that can be provided by an interprofessional health care team. It includes the assessment of acute low back pain with or without leg symptoms, assessment of risk factors to prevent chronic low back pain, and management (including pharmacological and additional nonpharmacological interventions) of acute low back pain with or without leg symptoms, as well as physical activity, education, self-management, and psychosocial support for people with acute low back pain. This quality standard includes referral to nonsurgical and surgical specialty health care teams for patients who require additional medical care for their low back pain, but it excludes information on specialty-based interventions.
This quality standard does not address the management of chronic low back pain (lasting more than 12 weeks). Other quality standards addressing chronic pain and pain management include Chronic Pain and Opioid Prescribing for Chronic Pain. This quality standard excludes low back pain in pregnancy; and the diagnosis and treatment of specific causes of low back pain, such as inflammatory conditions (e.g., ankylosing spondylitis), infections (e.g., discitis, osteomyelitis, epidural abscess), fracture, neoplasm, and metabolic bone disease (e.g., osteoporosis, osteomalacia, Paget’s disease), nonspinal causes of back pain (e.g., from the abdomen, kidney, ovary, pelvis, bladder), chronic pain syndromes, and surgical interventions (e.g., fusion and disc replacement, discectomy, laminectomy).
This quality standard was completed in January 2019 and updated in August 2025.