The scourge of back pain affects four out of five Britons at some point during their lives and costs the country £4.8billion a year in medical treatment, drugs, benefits and lost

productivity. It is often caused by a simple muscle, tendon or ligament strain and normally improves within a few weeks or months. So far, few studies have examined the potential reduced

life expectancy associated with spinal pain in an ageing population. But the new research, which studied twins, found that those with back or neck pain in later years were more likely to die

than those without, usually because of a link with a pattern of ill health amongst those sufferers. Associate Professor Paulo Ferreira, from the University of Sydney where the research was

controlled for in our analysis. “These findings warrant further investigation because while there is a clear link between back pain and mortality we don’t know yet why this is so. “Spinal

pain may be part of a pattern of poor health and poor functional ability, which increases mortality risk in the older population.” In Britain, the back pain epidemic is now costing the

economy £1billion in sick leave alone each year. Back, neck and muscle problems caused 31 million days of work to be lost last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. New

figures, released by the UK Statistics Authority, showed that workers aged 50-64 lose around 4.2 million working days due to back pain each year. Those aged 25-34 are absent for 1.89 million

days, while those in the 35-49 bracket miss 3.86 million days. Traditionally, sufferers who go to their GP with back pain are treated through a combination of physiotherapy and painkillers

such as paracetamol. Surgery is an option in extreme cases. NHS ADVISE ON CAUSES AND TREATMENT FOR BACK PAIN The extremely debilitating condition is, along with osteoarthritis - the most

common form of arthritis - the leading cause of disability in the UK and throughout the world. But the new study examined 4,390 Danish twins over 70 investigated whether spinal pain

increased the rate of all-cause and disease-specific cardiovascular mortality. Lead author Dr Matthew Fernandez said the findings showed how important it was for sufferers to address their

back pain. He explained: “With a rapidly growing ageing population, spinal health is critical in maintaining older age independence, highlighting the importance of spinal pain in primary

health care as a presenting symptom. Back pain should be recognised as an important co-morbidity that is likely to impact people’s longevity and quality of life.” Prof Ferreira added:

“Policy makers should be aware that back pain is a serious issue - it is an indicator of people’s poor health and should be screened for, particularly in the elderly.” The new study follows

previous research which found people with depression are 60 per cent more likely to develop low back pain in their lifetime. GETTY The new study examined 4,390 Danish twins over 70 Recent

research has also found that commonly prescribed medications for back pain such as paracetamol and anti-inflammatory drugs are ineffective in treating pain and have side effects. Prof

Ferreira concluded: “Medications are mostly ineffective, surgery usually does not offer a good outcome - the best treatment for low back is a healthy lifestyle, including physical activity.

“People need to get moving.” The new study was published in the European Journal of Pain.