Table 4

Frequency of care elements by profession

Profession	GPs	PTs	DCs
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Information about LBP including prognosis	92 (41.8)	598 (56.0)	1081 (48.9)
Advice to self-management	124 (56.4)	869 (81.4)	1468 (66.4)
Exercise instructions	38 (17.3)	866 (81.1)*	1004 (45.4)
Manual therapy	6 (2.7)	698 (65.4)	2131 (96.3)
Acupuncture/dry needling	n/a	45 (4.2)	208 (9.4)
Discussion of pain medication	n/a	n/a	290 (13.1)
In-house radiography	n/a	n/a	50 (2.3)
Discussion of lifestyle factors	n/a	225 (21.1)	n/a
Active exercises	n/a	727 (68.1)	n/a
Directional exercises	n/a	367 (34.4)	n/a
Acupuncture/injection	6 (2.7)	n/a	n/a
NSAID prescription	61 (27.7)	n/a	n/a
Opioid prescription	23 (10.5)	n/a	n/a
Adjuvant analgesics	20 (9.1)	n/a	n/a
Any pain medication (one or more)	89 (39.7)*	n/a	n/a
Referral GP	n/a	51 (4.8)	94 (4.2)
Referral PT	81 (36.2)	n/a	161 (7.3)
Referral DC	31 (13.8)	21 (2.0)	n/a
Referral PT/DC	106 (47.3)*	n/a	n/a
Referrals to secondary care (emergency room, MRI, spine centre)	35 (15.6)*	n/a	n/a
Referral to PT/DC or secondary care	141 (63.0)*	n/a	n/a

*Merged variable. For merged variables, the accumulation may reflect a lower frequency than the addition of the individual merged variables due to concomitant use.

DCs, chiropractors; GPs, general practitioners; LBP, Low back pain; n/a, not applicable; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; PTs, physiotherapists.