Viewpoint

My colleagues writing in this issue, Nikolai Bogduk, Tamar Pincus and Steve Vogel, have fed you much valuable information about psychology, back pain and osteopathy. Seemingly there is strong scientific evidence favouring only a limited number of psychological factors as predictors of chronicity, and those who research such issues will doubtless continue their endeavours to increase our understanding of the topic and whilst it is wise to watch that space, I’d caution against holding your breath! What you want to know is whether you could or should and do anything about these psychological factors in your clinics. Measurement of things like distress and fear avoidance is somewhat problematic psychometrically and, as Vogel suggests, not something osteopaths are likely to do. So, what can be done, and is it worth it? The answer is plenty, and yes.