To the Editor: On behalf of the Australian Association of Musculoskeletal Medicine (AAMM) and the Australasian Faculty of Musculoskeletal Medicine (AFMM), we would thank Briggs and Buchbinder for raising the topic of back pain as a National Health Priority Area (NHPA) for debate.1 The AAMM and its teaching arm, the AFMM, have been arguing for years that higher priority should be given to the management of low back pain, and we certainly support the arguments for making back pain an NHPA.
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- 1 Australasian Faculty of Musculoskeletal Medicine, Melbourne, VIC.
- 2 School of Medicine, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD.
- 3 Australian Association of Musculoskeletal Medicine, Sydney, NSW.
- 1. Briggs AM, Buchbinder R. Back pain: a National Health Priority Area in Australia? Med J Aust 2009; 190: 499-502. <MJA full text>
- 2. Chehade MJ, Bachorski A. Development of the Australian Core Competencies in Musculoskeletal Basic and Clinical Science project — phase 1. Med J Aust 2008; 189: 162-165. <MJA full text>
- 3. Australian Association of Musculoskeletal Medicine. Diploma courses. http://www.musmed.com/ (accessed Sep 2009).
- 4. Buchbinder R, Staples M, Jolley D. Doctors with a special interest in back pain have poorer knowledge about how to treat back pain. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 2009; 34: 1218-1226.