Introduction: Low back pain is one of the most frequent causes of absenteeism, which presents a great professional challenge and also a significant economic load of society. In Slovenia, in 2015, the cost of reimbursements for sick leave alone was approximately 42 million euros. We speculate that an enhanced clinical pathway would allow for faster, more efficient, and transparent treatment of patients with low back pain and hence reduced costs of healthcare and absenteeism. Purpose: To compare the efficacy of enhanced clinical pathway with the existing one and to assess the efficiency of current physiotherapy in patients with low back pain. Methods: In a prospective longitudinal study, we compared de novo established triage physiotherapy with the standard clinical pathway for low back pain. For comparison between the triage and control group of patients, we utilized a subjective measure of pain intensity with a numeric rating scale, the modified Roland-Morris questionnaire and conducted a trunk muscle performance test. Pearson’s correlation coefficients between the subjective and objective measures were also calculated. Results: The intensity of the pain was significantly reduced (p<0.001) after physiotherapy in both groups. The intensity of pain before physiotherapy treatment was not significantly different between the groups (p=0.761). The intensity of pain after physiotherapy was significantly lower (p<0.001) in the triage group compared to the control group. The total score of the questionnaire was significantly improved (p<0.001) in the triage group after physiotherapy whereas no significant improvement (p=0.367) was observed in the control group. After the standard treatment, the muscle performance test was significantly improved (p<0.001). There is a moderate correlation between muscle performance and the result of the questionnaire (r=0.54, p<0,05). Discussion and conclusion: The results suggest that triage physiotherapy is more effective than standard treatment despite its shorter duration. The introduction of triage physiotherapy to the public healthcare system in Slovenia would enhance efficiency and shorten the treatment of low back pain, reduce the absenteeism, and hence, reduce its economic load on society.
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