What are the red flags of back pain

What we now know is that up to 80% of patients presenting in primary care with acute lower back pain may have at least one red flag present, whilst less than 1% have a serious underlying pathology related to their back pain [ 2 ].8,10,14 back pain with associated leg painVertebral fracture related red flags include:Back pain is a common ailment that many people are likely to suffer from.poor posture and uncomfortable work stations can all contribute to the proble.Nocturnal back pain can be a symptom of spinal tumors.

The purpose of the red flags is to aid in the recommendation for imaging of the spine.Back pain risk factors and probability of fracture or malignancy history pain >6wk (tumor, infection) age >50 or <18 (tumor, congenital anomaly) history of trauma history of ivdu history of cancerWhile back pain can be debilitating, it can also cause permanent problems that are life threatening.Age at onset less than 20 or over 50 years (new back pain).Both of these alarming conditions cause signs, symptoms and symptoms other than pain.

Drug use is a red flag, although the patient should be considered to have an infection until proved otherwise.Starting from a previous review of eight back pain guidelines in which no two guidelines endorsed the same set of red flags for cancer (24 different red flags) or fracture (29 different red flags), downie and colleagues have synthesised the evidence for different red flags.