Back Facts

• In industrialised countries, up to 80% of the population will experience back pain at some stage in their life. During any one year, up to half of adult population (15%-49%) will have back pain. ^{(1, 3)}
  
  
• The number of people with back pain increases with advancing age, starting in school going children and peaking in adults of 35 to 55 years of age. Back pain is just as common in adolescents as in adults. ⁽³⁾

• In most cases it is very difficult to identify a single cause for back pain. In about 85% of the back pain sufferers no clear pathology can be identified. ⁽⁴⁾
  
  
• The following factors could contribute to back pain:
  
  
  • Having had back pain in the past, smoking and obesity. ⁽³⁾
    
    
  • Physical factors such as heavy physical work, frequent bending, twisting, lifting, pulling and pushing, repetitive work, static postures and vibrations. ⁽⁵⁾
    
    
  • Psychosocial factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, mental stress. ^{(3, 6)}

• Back pain is in most cases a self-limiting condition and 90% of the people with acute back pain will recover within 6 weeks. ⁽⁴⁾
  
  
• Up to 7% of the persons with acute back pain will develop chronic back pain. These chronic patients have considerable discomfort and account for approximately 80% of the social and health care costs. ⁽⁴⁾

• The National Health Service spends per year more than £1 billion on back pain related costs, this includes:
  • £512 million on hospital costs for back pain patients.
  • £141 million on GP consultations for back pain.
  • £150.6 million on physiotherapy treatments for back pain. ⁽²⁾
• In the private health care sector £565 million is spent on back pain every year. ⁽²⁾
• This brings the health care costs for back pain to a total of £1.6 billion per year. ⁽²⁾
• In addition there are other (indirect) costs. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that musculoskeletal disorders, which includes back pain costs UK employers between £590 million and £624 million per year. ⁽⁸⁾
• The total costs of back pain corresponds to between 1% and 2% of gross national product (GDP). ⁽⁹⁾
• Other European countries report similar high costs; back pain related costs in The Netherlands in 1991 were more than 4 billion euro. For Sweden in 1995 this was more than 2 billion euro. ⁽¹⁰⁾

• Nearly 5 million working days were lost as a result of back pain in 2003-04. This means that on any one day 1% of the working population are on sickness leave due to a back problem. ⁽¹¹⁾
  
  
• Back pain is the number 2 reason for long term sickness in much of the UK. In manual labour jobs, back pain is the number one reason. ⁽¹²⁾

• Nearly 40% of back pain sufferers consulted a GP for help; 10% visited a practitioner of complementary medicine (osteopaths, chiropractors and acupuncturists). ⁽¹³⁾
  
  
• When experiencing back pain it is very important to stay active. Bed rest will only make the pain worse. ^{(14, 15)}
• Physical exercise can be a very effective method to reduce the pain and discomfort that long-term pain sufferers experience. ⁽¹⁵⁾

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   Back pain in Britain: comparison of two prevalence surveys at an interval of 10 years
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2. Maniadakis A, Gray A.
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8. The costs of accidents at work, HS(G)96 2nd Edition,
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9. Norlund AI & Waddell G.
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   Philadelphia: Lippencott, Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
   
   
10. Van Tulder M.
    Chapter 1: Introduction.
    Eur Spine J 2006;15(suppl 2):S134-S135.
    
    
11. Back Health at Work.
    HSE 2005
    
    
12. Department for Work and Pensions, 2002.
    
    
13. Department of Health Statistics Division. The prevalence of back pain in Great Britain in 1998.
    London: Government Statistical Service, 1999
    
    
14. Van Tulder M, Becker A, et al.
    European guidelines for the management of acute non-specific low back pain in primary care.
    ur Spine J 2006;15(suppl 2):S169-S191.
    
    
15. Airaksinen O, Brox JI, et al.
    European guidelines for the management of chronic non-specific low back pain.
    Eur Spine J 2006;15(suppl2):S192-S300