Back and neck pain ruin lives of 12 million
LOWER back and neck problems are the biggest pain complaints, affecting nearly 12 million people in Britain.
The figures show a 20 per cent rise in just 20 years as a study suggests that bone, joint and muscle conditions are the major causes of disability.
Analysis by the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) using data from the Global Burden of Disease found 8.7 million people suffered falls causing disability and death in 2016. Nearly five million were disabled by osteoarthritis and three million by other conditions of the bones joints and muscles.
Musculoskeletal conditions affect the bones, muscles and joints and now account for one in five visits to the GP and 30.8 million working days lost each year.
Professor Anthony Woolf, chairman of ARMA, said: “Risk factors such as obesity, poor diet and lack of physical activity are contributing to this rise in the population. To combat this, we need health policy that focuses on good lifelong bone, joint and muscle health and preventing and managing these conditions.”
Research shows that millions of Britons can expect to live for longer but will probably see their old age crippled by complaints like back pain, migraines and hearing loss.
On average, men born today will live to 79 while women will reach 83, yet illness and injury will rob most of a fully healthy life. Analysis shows men will live 69 years in good health while women will spend 71 years free of problems.
But NHS research earlier this year laid bare the health time bomb facing the UK with 39 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds overweight or obese up from 27 per cent in 1993. It means nearly three million young adults are at risk of developing “a cacophony” of diseases, from diabetes to cancer.