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Evidence-Based Medicine for Low Back Pain

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Book cover Spinal Imaging

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Diagn Imaging))

Abstract

During the last decade, the importance of evidencebased medicine has steadily gained ground. Sackett, in his landmark book published in 1997, defined evidence-based medicine as ‘conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about care of individual patients’ (Sackett 1997). The evidence may refer to new or existing interventions and to preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. Sackett suggested five steps on how individual care providers can practice evidence-based medicine: (1) ask clinical questions that you can answer, (2) search for the best evidence, (3) critically appraise the evidence, (4) apply the evidence in care for your patient, and (5) self-evaluation (of the above steps). Although this seems very reasonable, it is probably impossible for individual care providers to search for and critically appraise the evidence. At present, there are more than 2 million new articles published every year.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine (EMGO), VU University Medical Center and Institute for Health Sciences, Faculty of Earth & Life Sciences, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Maurits van Tulder MD, PhD

  2. Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC-University Medical Center Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Bart Koes PhD

Authors
  1. Maurits van Tulder MD, PhD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University Hospital Antwerpen, Wilrijkstraat, 10, 2650, Edegem, Belgium

    Johan W. M. Van Goethem MD, PhD , Luc van den Hauwe MD  & Paul M. Parizel MD, PhD ,  & 

  2. Department of Radiology, Algemeen Ziekenhuis Nikolaas, Moerlandstraat 1, 9100, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

    Johan W. M. Van Goethem MD, PhD

  3. Department of Radiology, AZ KLINA, Augustijnslei 100, 2930, Brasschaat, Belgium

    Luc van den Hauwe MD

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van Tulder, M., Koes, B. (2007). Evidence-Based Medicine for Low Back Pain. In: Van Goethem, J.W.M., van den Hauwe, L., Parizel, P.M. (eds) Spinal Imaging. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68483-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68483-1_5

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