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Table 6 Statements on the biomedical attitude of primary health care providers

From: Misbeliefs about non-specific low back pain and attitudes towards treatment by primary care providers in Spain: a qualitative study

Subthemes

Quotations

The search for a diagnosis to justify the pain

“It has several causes [...] It can be degeneration, bad posture, accident, psychological [...] People don’t know where the pain comes from and you can’t explain it to them either” (RN 3)

“There are patients who ask for imaging tests and, sometimes, doctors in front of the pressure of the user or his relative have asked for a radiological test without it being indicated” (BM 1)

Education in postural hygiene

“The head of the rehabilitation service passed us some sheets [...] when I see that it is a positional, an overload, well I tell him, do these exercises [...] read it and such. I’ll explain the two or three most important ones” (BM 2).

Recommendations for limiting work activity

“Rest when they are in acute pain, relative rest, because rest is not at all” (RN 3).

“I follow my recommendations. I do not even remember. I am sure I have read it and will follow it, but now I do not remember [...] knowing them. What happens is that I assume part of the guide and then the other is my day to day” (BM 2).

“Evidence-based medicine, but the one the patient explains to you [...] Maybe it’s just to help the patient, but maybe it’s just to get the patient off our backs, I don’t know. There is a mixture of things [...] Many times even the advice we give is wrong” (BM 4)

“I am a professional who treats chronic low back pain and at the same time I am a user of chronic low back pain. It is not a clinical guide, but it is a direct experience” (RN 5).