Disabling chronic low back pain as an iatrogenic disorder: a qualitative study in Aboriginal Australians.

ABSTRACT: To determine the low back pain beliefs of Aboriginal Australians; a population previously identified as protected against the disabling effects of low back pain due to cultural beliefs. Qualitative study employing culturally appropriate methods within a clinical ethnographic framework. One rural and two remote towns in Western Australia. Thirty-two Aboriginal people with chronic low-back pain (CLBP; 21 men, 11 women). Participants included those who were highly, moderately and mildly disabled. Most participants held biomedical beliefs about the cause of CLBP, attributing pain to structural/anatomical vulnerability of their spine. This belief was attributed to the advice from healthcare practitioners and the results of spinal radiological imaging. Negative causal beliefs and a pessimistic f

SUBMITTER: Lin IB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3641505 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature