Original article
ACR Appropriateness Criteria® on Low Back Pain

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2009.02.008Get rights and content

Acute low back pain with or without radiculopathy is one of the most common health problems in the United States, with high annual costs of evaluation and treatment, not including lost productivity. Multiple reports show that uncomplicated acute low back pain or radiculopathy is a benign, self-limited condition that does not warrant any imaging studies. Guidelines for recognition of patients with more complicated status can be used to identify those who require further evaluation for suspicion of more serious problems and contribute to appropriate imaging utilization.

Section snippets

Summary of Literature Review

Acute low back pain (LBP) with or without radiculopathy is one of the most common health problems in the United States and is the leading cause of disability for persons aged <45 years. The cost of evaluating and treating acute LBP runs into billions of dollars annually, not including time lost from work [1].

Because of the high prevalence and high cost of dealing with this problem, government agencies have sponsored extensive studies that are now part of the growing body of literature on this

Relative Radiation Level Information

Potential adverse health effects associated with radiation exposure are an important factor to consider when selecting the appropriate imaging procedure. Because there is a wide range of radiation exposures associated with different diagnostic procedures, a relative radiation level indication has been included for each imaging examination. The relative radiation levels are based on effective dose, which is a radiation dose quantity that is used to estimate population total radiation risk

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