Peer-reviewedCC BYThe Lancet Rheumatology
Towards global clinical practice guidelines for the management of non-specific low back pain in primary care: a review of current guideline recommendations and how they have changed over the last 30 years
7 affiliations
- 1Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, University of Western São Paulo, Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: [email protected]
- 2Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health and Center for Muscle and Joint Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- 3Department of Physical Therapy, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil; Discipline of Physiotherapy, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- 4Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- 5Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
- 6Center for Muscle and Joint Health, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Chiropractic Knowledge Hub, Odense, Denmark
- 7Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Abstract
Low back pain has an enormous impact on individuals and health systems. The large majority of individuals with low back pain have non-specific low back pain (also recently called primary low back pain by WHO), where the cause cannot be attributed to a specific pathology. Developing and implementing evidence-based guidelines to manage non-specific low back pain in primary care is essential to reducing the burden on individuals and health systems. Since 2001, periodic overviews of clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with non-specific low back pain in primary care have been conducted. Since the last overview in 2018, new clinical practice guidelines for the management of low back pain have been published. This Review summarises management recommendations across international low back pain clinical practice guidelines for primary care and explores the changes in recommendations over time in guidelines published between 1994 and 2026.
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BibTeX
@article{oliveira2026towards,
title = {{Towards global clinical practice guidelines for the management of non-specific low back pain in primary care: a review of current guideline recommendations and how they have changed over the last 30 years}},
author = {Crystian B Oliveira and Bart Willem Koes and Rafael Z. Pinto and Adrian C. Traeger and Gustavo C Machado and Chung‐Wei Christine Lin and Jill A. Hayden and Jan Hartvigsen and Caitlin M. P. Jones and Qiuzhe Chen and Alessandro Chiarotto and Christopher Gerard Maher},
journal = {The Lancet Rheumatology},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1016/s2665-9913(26)00077-9},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/s2665-9913(26)00077-9},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Towards global clinical practice guidelines for the management of non-specific low back pain in primary care: a review of current guideline recommendations and how they have changed over the last 30 years
AU - Crystian B Oliveira
AU - Bart Willem Koes
AU - Rafael Z. Pinto
AU - Adrian C. Traeger
AU - Gustavo C Machado
AU - Chung‐Wei Christine Lin
AU - Jill A. Hayden
AU - Jan Hartvigsen
AU - Caitlin M. P. Jones
AU - Qiuzhe Chen
AU - Alessandro Chiarotto
AU - Christopher Gerard Maher
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/26
JO - The Lancet Rheumatology
DO - 10.1016/s2665-9913(26)00077-9
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/s2665-9913(26)00077-9
AB - Low back pain has an enormous impact on individuals and health systems. The large majority of individuals with low back pain have non-specific low back pain (also recently called primary low back pain by WHO), where the cause cannot be attributed to a specific pathology. Developing and implementing evidence-based guidelines to manage non-specific low back pain in primary care is essential to reducing the burden on individuals and health systems. Since 2001, periodic overviews of clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with non-specific low back pain in primary care have been conducted. Since the last overview in 2018, new clinical practice guidelines for the management of low back pain have been published. This Review summarises management recommendations across international low back pain clinical practice guidelines for primary care and explores the changes in recommendations over time in guidelines published between 1994 and 2026.
SN - 2665-9913
ER -