Medical Research on a Complaint: Orientation and Priorities

Abstract

Low back pain as a research topic has been treated in this symposium, as in other contexts, as though it were an illness. It is, however, a complaint - and as such, even, potentially not a genuine one. Appreciation of the true character of back pain is essential for the proper orientation and setting of priorities for medical research as these flow from general principles of medical research in the domain of a complaint.

Key Words:

• diagnosis
• epidemiological methods
• low back pain
• symptom.