Overview of the assessment of back and neck pain

Most people with back or neck pain seen in primary care will have a nonserious condition and a good prognosis. Serious underlying pathology requiring urgent management is rare, but may be indicated by the presence of alerting features (also known as ‘red flags’) listed in Serious pathologies requiring urgent management in patients with back and neck pain and their alerting features (‘red flags’). Clinicians should actively consider and exclude these conditions in people who present with back and neck pain; see Excluding a serious underlying pathology in people with back and neck pain for more details.