Rating scales for assessment of low back pain and disability: A literature review

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to find out all the available scoring systems for Assessment of Low Back Pain and Disability.Introduction: During the past decades several scoring systems have been developed to assess the functional status of patients with low back pain.Methods: Electronic searches were performed using Google scholar, Medline, PubMed and Cochrane library.Result: Thirty-five scoring systems are currently available for the evaluation of low back pain and Disability. Each of them evaluates low back pain using specific variables. All these scoring systems are presented.Discussion: Although many scoring systems have been used to evaluate the back function, we are still far from a single outcome evaluation system that is reliable, valid and sensitive to clinically relevant changes, considered both patients’ and physicians’ perspective and is short and practical to use.Conclusion: Further studies are required to evaluate the reliability, validity and sensitivity of the low back pain scoring systems used in the common clinical practice.