Pain in the neck -- and back

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- For all the advances medicine has made in combating the sources of pain, the human spine remains one of the most recalcitrant.

Spending for back and neck problems grew 65% over eight years to almost $86 billion nationally, with prescription drugs the fastest-growing component, according to a new study in the Feb. 13 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But it doesn't appear to be helping people much. The portion of people with back or neck problems who said they had physical functioning limitations rose to 25% in 2005 from 21% in 1997, the study found.

"We're spending more on back pain than people thought, and at the same time we're not seeing commensurate improvements in health status that we should expect to see from investments in health care over time," said Brook Martin, the lead author and a research scientist at the University of Washington's Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Seattle.

The study examined annual federal survey data of 23,000 people, more than 3,100 of whom reported spine problems.

Back pain can come from a variety of sources, including natural aging processes, injury, excessive or not enough physical activity and carrying too much body weight. It affects most people at some point in their lives. Nearly 53% of patients surveyed in 2005 had nonspecific back disorders, a category that included spinal stenosis, back ache and sciatica. The second largest category was disk disorders with 16%.

source: Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch