Spine pain is so common it is not so much a disease as a condition of life.  The evidence of the elderly is that virtually all of us will suffer from it at some point. It is the single commonest cause of lost working days. 

In the UK, each year 2 million people attend their general practitioner with spinal problems, over 300,000 are referred for specialist care, over 60,000 are admitted to hospital and more than 30,000 people undergo surgery with many more having spinal injections.

There are many causes of chronic back pain, though by far the most common is degenerative disease.   This degeneration is the normal process of wear and tear that occurs with life.  It affects the discs, bones, joints and ligaments of the spine. Back pain arises when inflammation occurs in the worn joints and discs. It is the actual build-up of inflammation that results in pain. For more information regarding low back pain, please press here or for neck pain, please press here.