Back pain. Part II. Diagnosis and pathogenesis of chronic cases

Chronic back pain is often a difficult issue for therapists. Imaging examinations are not always consistent with the clinical picture of condition and can generate false positive or false negative results. Therefore, functional tests are frequently more useful to establish the diagnosis. Their results can be used to monitor the rehabilitation process; moreover, they provide guidelines on the types of exercises that should be applied to compensate for the deficits detected. In order to avoid or eliminate back pain, it is essential to maintain spine stability, which can be impaired by the lack of muscle control.