This means seeking medical attention as soon as possible to get thoroughly assessed and rule out any serious conditions. Screening for red flags in individuals with low back pain (LBP) has been a historical hallmark of musculoskeletal management. 2017 — Several good red flag clarifications and a couple interesting new references about spinal cord compression. Factors such as your age (are you over 50, or under 20, for example), if you've had cancer in the past, if you have severe pain, especially at night, if you've lost weight recently without trying, and/or if your pain gets worse when you lie on your back are all potential clues to this red flag. Specific individual red flags and combinations of red flags were associated with an increased probability of underlying serious spinal pathology, e.g., recent trauma and an age of >50 years were associated with vertebral fracture. These red flags were defined in a set of guidelines on acute low back pain published by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
Red Flags – low back pain •Indicate possible serious pathology •Indicate the need for further investigation and, possibly, specialist referral. But many people want to know why is back pain at night a red flag. Possible tumour/infection *Age < 20 or > 50 years *History of cancer *Constitutional symptoms (fever, Red Flags for Low Back Pain Are Not Always Really Red A Prospective Evaluation of the Clinical Utility of Commonly Used Screening Questions for Low Back Pain Ajay Premkumar, MD, MPH, William Godfrey, BS, Michael B. Gottschalk, MD, and Scott D. Boden, MD Investigation performed at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia Background: Low back pain has a high prevalence and morbidity, and is … It affects up to 80% of Americans at some pain. 2017 — New section: “Signs of arthritis are not red flags.” 2017 — Added important red flag information about artery tears with pain as the only symptom. For instance, for patients with no recent history of … By Kevin Braddock Updated: 17:11 EDT, 30 May 2009.
When you have some red flags, it only indicates a need to look more closely. Identification of a red flag warrants close attention and further diagnostic testing. The presence or absence of other red flags, such as night pain, was unrelated to any particular diagnosis. Aside from writing more than one book on low back pain, I have a great online course for low back pain too. Patients with nonspecific back pain for less than 6 weeks with no red flags do not need imaging and can be discharged with analgesics and outpatient follow-up.
RESULTS: Specific individual red flags and combinations of red flags were associated with an increased probability of underlying serious spinal pathology, e.g., recent trauma and an age of >50 years were associated with vertebral fracture. Red flag screening is endorsed by most LBP clinical practice guidelines, despite a lack of support for their diagnostic capacity.
Red flags are features from a patient's subjective and objective assessment which are thought to put them at a higher risk of serious pathology and warrant referral for further diagnostic testing.