"Navigating chaos": Urban, Rural, and Remote Patient Experiences in Accessing Healthcare with Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Perspectives of Living with Chronic Low Back Pain.

Background: Healthcare access for chronic low back pain is complex and should consider not only the health system, but patient care seeking experiences as well. People who live in rural and remote communities and/or identify as being Indigenous may often encounter additional barriers to accessing care for chronic low back pain; thus, these contexts must be considered to fully understand barriers and facilitators.

Aims: The aim of this study was to understand care-seeking experiences of people living with chronic back pain in Saskatchewan and determine unique experiences facing urban, rural, remote, and/or Indigenous peoples.

Healthcare Access Challenges and Facilitators for Back Pain Across the Rural-Urban Continuum in Saskatchewan, Canada: Cross-Sectional Results From a Provincial-Wide Telephone Survey.

Background: Chronic back pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder, disproportionately affecting rural and Indigenous people. Saskatchewan has a relatively high proportion of rural and Indigenous residents; therefore, understanding barriers and facilitators to accessing healthcare are needed to improve healthcare service delivery.

Methods: A provincial-wide telephone survey explored experiences and perceived healthcare access barriers and facilitators among 384 Saskatchewan residents who experienced chronic low back pain.

Experiences of Health Care Access Challenges for Back Pain Care Across the Rural-Urban Continuum in Canada: Protocol for Cross-sectional Research.

Background: Back pain is common and costly, with negative impacts on both individuals and the health care system. Rural, remote, and Indigenous populations are at greater risk of experiencing back pain compared to urban and non-Indigenous populations. Potential barriers to health care access among Canadians with chronic back pain (CBP) have been identified; however, no study has used lived experiences of people with CBP to drive the selection, analysis, and interpretation of variables most meaningful to patients.