Of back pain there has been much written, and yet little proven. How can it be that everyone is an expert and yet there has been so little progress? The common forms of back pain defy meaningful diagnosis, treatment is unreliable, and disability and handicap show an inexorable increase. Are matters being made worse with well intentioned but misleading advice? Should published research be more severely criticised? How does one even begin to find a solution to these problems?This book goes a long way towards answering some of these questions. One of the fundamental aims was to produce a reliable and objective diagnostic classification for the common forms of low back pain. The resulting underlying concepts are surprisingly simple. This book will be of interest to anyone involved with treating cases of low back pain, whether they be a generalist, specialist, diagnostician or therapist. Dr. Brian Sweetman has been a Consultant Rheumatologist since 1981. He has dedicated much of his working life to back pain research, gaining a PhD on the topic of back pain in industry and an MD on the Numerical Classification of Common Low Back Pain. In the past he has served as Auditor, then Treasurer, to the Society for Back Pain Research. He still sees back pain patients regularly and also offers medico-legal, industrial and health and safety advice, and continues to publish and correspond on back and neck pain problems.