"Nonspecific" Back Pain is History, says Vanderbilt Physiatrist DJ Kennedy, MD

Where did that notion come from, that the origin of most back pain can't be identified?

Physiatrist DJ Kennedy, MD, told Patient Care® he's traced that thinking back to consensus statements published between the 1950s and 1970s - predating the use of MRI and modern injection techniques. Kennedy is president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and talks in this interview about the heterogenous nature of the back pain that a primary care clinician is likely to see.

DJ Kennedy, MD, is president-elect of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and professor in and chair of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, TN, where his practice focuses on nonoperative and interventional spine care. He has served as a senior editor for the journal PM&R, on the editorial board for Pain Medicine, and as a deputy editor for The Spine Journal. Kennedy also is current president of the Spine Intervention Society.