Back pain is one of the most frequent ailments taken to physicians in the United States. More than six million cases are seen every year, with the majority of back pain complaints being about the lower back. This condition is pricey, too, and is the 3rd most costly disorder, after heart disease and cancer. Approximately 80 percent of people get back pain at some point in their lives. Although back pain can be grouped in a number of ways, the most obvious is by location. Back problems can occur almost anywhere along the spine.

Back pain is an all-too-familiar problem that can lead from a dull, constant ache to a sudden, sharp pain that leaves you helpless. It can come on suddenly —from an accident, a fall, or lifting something heavy or it can develop slowly, perhaps as the result of age-related changes to the spine. Irrespective of how back pain happens or how it feels, you know it when you have it. And chances are, if you don’t have back pain now, you will at some point.

At some point, back pain effects an estimated eight in ten people. Although anyone can have back pain, a number of factors increase your risk. They include your age, fitness level, diet, hereditary and race. The first attack of low back pain typically occurs between the ages of thirty and forty years of age. Back pain tends to become more common with age.

Back pain is more usual among people who are not physically fit. Weak back and abdominal muscles do not properly support the spine. Reports show that low-impact aerobic exercise is good for the discs that buffer the vertebrae, which are the individual bones that make up the spine. A diet high in calories and fat, combined with an inactive lifestyle, can lead to obesity, which can put tension on the back. Some causes of back pain, including disc disease, may have a hereditary component. Race can be a factor in back problems. African American women, for example, are two to three times more likely than white women to develop spondylolisthesis, a disorder in which a vertebra of the lower spine (also called the lumbar spine) slips out of place. This is painful, as you can imagine.

The main reason we suffer from back problems is that we are increasingly becoming sedentary creatures. Our two-legged upright posture is designed for walking. Today, a high proportion of people spend the better part of their working day sitting at desks, at work stations, or in cars and trucks. These changes in human behavior have had a fundamental and largely negative  impact on human wellness.