Table 3 Explanation of the factors within the theme “physical factor”
Factors | Definition | Quote |
|---|---|---|
Somatic explainability | The physical explainability of the complaint, more specific when there was a known underlying physical cause that explains the pain of the patient. | “If you are still on an organic substrate, you are often looking into neurology and orthopaedics.” (GP 6) |
Pain location | The pain of the patient could be located in different body parts such as the neck, knee, hip or back. | “If you have more or less solitary back or neck complaints, say for spine-related complaints …” (GP3) |
Specific clinical picture | There was a diagnosis for the complaints of the patients which influenced the referral. | “I refer people with herpes or shingles, they have pain complaints for possibly several options.” (GP8) |
Type of pain | A specific type of pain, for example neurological pain, oncological pain or posture-related pain | “...I refer to them when I think it mainly concerns neurogenic pain.” (GP2) |
Pain duration | This code referred to the period a patient was suffering from the pain before they were referred. | “...quite in the beginning, so if someone quite recently got back pain, they are going to the physiotherapist pretty quickly.” (GP7) |