Investigation of a Physiotherapist and Nurse Practitioner Intervention for Chronic Low Back Disorders Delivered Through Telehealth

The purpose of this project is to compare "usual care" for chronic low back disorders in a rural setting (nurse practitioner/NP) to two different means of integrating Physical Therapy (PT) into a rural health care team: 1. in-person PT assessment, where the PT travels from an urban center 2. interprofessional Telehealth assessment where the local NP is joined by a PT via Telehealth. The project will evaluate health, systems and process outcomes, comparative effectiveness and costs of the three methods of assessment. The hypothesis is that an interprofessional Telehealth assessment with be as effective as an in-person PT assessment, but more effective than usual care.