To the Editor: In the recent article by Briggs and Buchbinder, the authors propose that one advantage of including back pain as a National Health Priority Area (NHPA) is that it will increasingly encourage the management of back pain in accordance with best-practice clinical care guidelines.1
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- 1. Briggs AM, Buchbinder R. Back pain: a National Health Priority Area in Australia? Med J Aust 2009; 190: 499-502. <MJA full text>
- 2. Atlas SJ, Deyo RA. Evaluating and managing acute low back pain in the primary care setting. J Gen Intern Med 2001; 16: 120-131.
- 3. McGuirk B, King W, Govind J, et al. Safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of evidence-based guidelines for the management of acute low back pain in primary care. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2001; 26: 2615-2622.
- 4. NSW Therapeutic Assessment Group. Prescribing guidelines for primary care clinicians. Rational use of opioids in chronic or recurrent non-malignant pain: migraine. Sydney: NSW TAG, 2002.
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We thank Emily Boulton-Smith, former Emergency Department Physiotherapist at St Vincent’s Hospital, for her work in devising the physiotherapy section of the LBPAT.