Physios halve chance of admission

Patients who present to emergency with low back pain are less likely to be admitted if a physiotherapist assesses them.

The retrospective review of presentations to two Melbourne hospitals for low back pain found the hospital that used physios the most to review patients (32% vs 19%) had a significantly lower number of admissions (24% vs 11%).

The results provide strong evidence for the importance of routine physiotherapy review in the management of patients presenting with low back pain, concluded Eric Morand and colleagues from Monash Health.