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It’s estimated that, globally, one out of every 10 people suffer from lower back pain. The problem appears to be particularly prevalent in the US. According to earlier estimates, as many as eight out of 10 Americans struggle with back pain.

In the US, it accounts for 10 percent of all primary care doctors visits each year, costing Americans as much as $86 billion annually,1 but according to recent findings, back pain is also the number one cause of job disability
worldwide.

Clearly, it’s a universal problem of extreme proportions. The study, published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases,2 found that out of 291 health conditions included in the Global Burden of Disease 2010 Study, low-back pain ranked at the very top in terms of disability. According to the authors:

“Lower back pain (LBP) causes more global disability than any other condition. With the ageing population, there is an urgent need for further research to better understand LBP across different settings.”

Back Pain-A Driving Force Behind A Growing Drug Problem

A related concern, which was not addressed in the featured study, is the fact that lower back pain is also one of the primary reasons why people get hooked on prescription painkillers.

Deaths caused by overdosing on painkillers now surpass murders and fatal car accidents in the US, and over the past five years, heroin deaths have increased by 45 percent3 –an increase that officials blame on the rise of addictive prescription drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, codeine, and Fentora, all of which are opioids (derivatives of opium). Heroin is simply a cheaper option to these prescription medications.