[Medical News Today]
Many of us experience low back pain at some point in our lives for different reasons. And now, new research suggests this condition causes more disability worldwide than any other ailment.
The researchers behind the study – who publish their results in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases - say that, as life expectancies increase and the proportion of elderly people rises, this problem will worsen in the coming decades.
As such, the team warns governments and health services to take the issue more seriously than they have in the past.
Their data comes from the Global Burden of Disease 2010 study, which looked at poor health and disability arising from all ailments in 187 countries. These countries were grouped into 21 regions, and the data covers 1990, 2005 and 2010.
They explain that the process for estimating the global burden of low back pain has taken nearly 6 years to complete.