edited by R M Aspden (Univ. Aberdeen) & R W Porter (Univ. Aberdeen)

This is a companion to Volume 1 with the same title and a similar approach: namely to draw together current understanding of the multifactorial nature of back pain. Both volumes together contain chapters contributed by most of the leading researchers into back pain in the UK and as such they constitute an unparalleled resource. Rather than concentrating on specialist areas such as surgery or the lumbar spine, the emphasis is on understanding the function and failure of the spine and its component tissues. As such it contains material which is applicable to anyone with an interest in any aspect of the spine; from biomechanics to blood flow, epidemiology to economics, nerves to nutrition and everything else in between.

• Epidemiology of Low Back Pain: The British Contribution (P R Croft)
• Measuring Health Outcomes in Low Back Pain (A Garratt & D Ruta)
• Pain Sources in the Lumbar Spine (R C Mulholland)
• Characterisation of the Innervation to the Intervertebral Discs and Associated Ligaments (P W McCarthy)
• The Role of the Blood Supply in Lumbar Spine Disorders (I L H Reichert et al.)
• Pathology of Symptomatic Lumbar Disc Protrusion: Medico-Legal and Surgical Implications (R W Porter)
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Lumbar Spine (P Thorpe & F W Smith)
• Digital Videofluoroscopy and Abnormal Spinal Movement (A C Breen & R Allen)
• Radionuclide Bone Scanning (F W Smith & P Thorpe)
• Spondylolisthesis (J R Johnson)
• Ankylosing Spondylitis (A C Ross & M Dolman)
• Isolated Disc Resorption (H Crock & S Matsuda)
• Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion and Cages (M R K Karpinski)
• Clinical Trial to Investigate Stabilisation of the Spine (J C T Fairbank et al.)
• Management of Spinal Stenosis (J E Nixon)
• Epidural Injections in the Management of Low Back Pain and Sciatica (K Bush)