Activities performed and treatments conducted before consultation with a spine surgeon: are patients and clinicians following evidence-based clinical practice guidelines?

Background Context: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are designed to ensure that evidence-based treatment is easily put into action. Whether patients and clinicians follow these guidelines is equivocal.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to examine how many patients complaining of low back pain (LBP) underwent evidence-based medical interventional treatment in line with CPG recommendations before consultation with a spine surgeon, and to evaluate any associations between adherence to CPG recommendations and baseline factors.