Date: August 27th, 2021

Reference: Gagnon et al. Direct-access physiotherapy to help manage patients with musculoskeletal disorders in an emergency department: Results of a randomized controlled trial. AEM 2021

Guest Skeptic: Dagny Kane-Haas is a physiotherapist who also has a master’s degree in Clinical Science in Manipulative Therapy.

Case: A forty-year-old woman presents to the emergency department (ED) with a sore lower back after moving some boxes at home over the weekend. She tried acetaminophen with limited relief. Her pain is eight out of ten on the zero-to-ten-point numeric pain rating scale (NPRS). She has no red flags (TUNA FISH) and is diagnosed as having mechanical back pain without imaging as per ACEP Choosing Wisely. You know mechanical low back pain is difficult to treat effectively and are trying to set expectations. While preparing her for discharge you wonder if seeing a physiotherapist before going home from the ED would improve her outcome.

Background: Acute and chronic back pain has been covered many times on the SGEM. There is no high-quality evidence that acetaminophen, NSAIDS, steroids, diazepam, muscle relaxants or combinations of pharmacologic modalities provide much relief.

* SGEM#87:Let Your Back Bone Slide (Paracetamol for Low-Back Pain)

* SGEM#173: Diazepam Won’t Get Back Pain Down

* SGEM#240: I Can’t Get No Satisfaction for My Chronic Non-Cancer Pain

* SGEM#304: Treating Acute Low Back Pain – It’s Tricky, Tricky, Tricky

We do know that opioids are very effective at reducing many types of pain including muscular skeletal pain. However, opioids have many side effects and concerns about substance misused.

The ACEP 2020 clinical policy on the use of opioids states:

“Preferentially prescribe nonopioid analgesic therapies (nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic) rather than opioids as the initial treatment of acute pain in patients discharged from the emergency department. For cases in which opioid medications are deemed necessary, prescribe the lowest effective dose of a short-acting opioid for the shortest time indicated.” (Level C Recommendation)

There are several non-pharmaceutical treatments that have also been tried to treat low back pain. They include: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mindfulness (Cherkin et al JAMA 2016), chiropractic (Paige et al JAMA 2017), physical therapy (Paolucci et al J Pain Research 2018) and acupuncture (Colquhoun and Novella Anesthesia and Analgesia 2013). None of these other treatments has high-quality evidence supporting their use.

We have covered a randomized control trial looking at acupuncture to treat painful conditions presenting to the ED, including acute back pain,