Those With Spinal Pain Live Shorter Lives
‘MY BACK’S KILLING ME’
Shared by Dr. Ranzetti and Progressive Chiropractic of Virginia Beach VA
Don’t ignore that niggling back pain… ‘it really CAN kill you – raising your risk of early death by 13%”. Older people who suffer back pain were found to be at 13 per cent increased risk of dying early from all causes.
BY LIZZIE PARRY, DIGITAL HEALTH EDITOR
23rd February 2017, 3:26 pm
A note from Dr. Ranzetti:
What they fail to realize is the tremendous impact that spinal dysfunction can and does have on the nervous system. The nervous system that controls ALL systems. “Unhealthy spine unhealthy LIFE”
Scientists recorded death rates in 4,390 Danish twins aged over 70 to see if there was any link with back pain.
Dr Paulo Ferreira, from the University of Sydney in Australia, said: “Our study found that compared to those without spinal pain (back and neck), a person with spinal pain has a 13 per cent higher chance of dying every year.
“This is a significant finding as many people think that back pain is not life-threatening.”
Studying twins allowed the scientists to rule out shared genetic factors as a major influence on the result.
If one of a pair of identical twins, who share the same genes, died early and the other did not, inherited genes were unlikely to be the 
reason.
Dr Ferreira said: “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. (Dr. Ranzetti knows why)
“Spinal pain may be part of a pattern of poor health and poor functional ability, which increases mortality risk in the older population.”
Policy makers should be aware that back pain is a “serious issue” and an indicator of poor health, he said.
Dr Matthew Fernandez, also from the University of Sydney, said: “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 recognized as an important co-morbidity that is likely to impact people’s longevity and quality of life.”
Dr Ferreira said commonly prescribed painkillers such as paracetamol and anti-inflammatory drugs were not effective at treating back pain and had side-effects.
“The best treatment for low back is a healthy lifestyle, including physical activity,” he said. “People need to get moving.”
Back pain affects about 700 million people around the world and is the number one cause of disability.
Up to four out of five British adults will experience back pain at some stage during their lifetime.
Costs associated with back pain account for roughly a fifth of the UK’s health expenditure, according to the National Pain Audit