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Ouch! The Painful Facts About Back Pain
October 09, 2020
If you’ve never experienced back pain, count your blessings. Half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year, according to the American Chiropractic Association.
Here are 10 other quick facts from the association:
- Worldwide, back pain is the single leading cause of disability, preventing many people from engaging in work as well as other everyday activities.
- About 31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time.
- Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work.
- Back pain accounts for more than 264 million lost work days in one year — that’s two work days for every full-time worker in the country.
- Experts estimate that up to 80 percent of the population will experience back pain at some time in their lives.
- Back pain can affect people of all ages, from adolescents to the elderly.
- Back pain is the third-most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, behind skin disorders and osteoarthritis/joint disorders.
- Most cases of back pain are mechanical or non-organic — meaning they are not caused by serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer.
- Most people with low back pain recover, but recurrence is common and for small percentage of people the condition will become chronic and disabling.
- Worldwide, years lived with disability caused by low back pain have increased by 54 percent between 1990 and 2015.
Back pain an appear suddenly, and sharpy, or it feel more like a constant act. The National Institutes of Health says possible causes include:
- An accident.
- A fall.
- Lifting something heavy.
- Changes that happen in the spine as you age.
- A disorder or medical condition.