Back pain affects people from all walks of life and does not discriminate based on age, race, gender, religion or political affiliation. According to recent research by the Mayo Clinic, approximately 80% of all Americans will have low back pain at least once in their lives and is the second most common cause of disability worldwide. Back pain is also one of the most common reasons for missed work and the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, behind only upper-respiratory infections. Americans spend at least $50 Billion each year on back pain alone. In order to understand and treat back pain, we must be able to pinpoint the causes. Here are six culprits for most back and neck pain and they are more common than you may think.

Sufferers of severe neck and back pain often go years with over-the-counter medications or short-term treatments offered by the insurance companies before reaching a breaking point and seeking new back pain solutions. The affects of this back pain can steal the joy out of daily life and make normal activities difficult.

The American Chiropractors Association estimates that up to 31 million Americans experience issues with neck and back pain each year. We talked to Don, a resident of Orlando, Florida, about his neck and back pain, how it impacted life, and the steps he took to finally get relief..

If you are injured or develop pain in your back, neck or joints, your primary care physician, the ER physician at a hospital, or an urgent care doctor may recommend you have an MRI. About 30,000 MRI scans are performed every year, many of those of the back, neck and joints. At Deuk Spine Institute, we're able to perform MRI scans right here in our facility.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty fifth president of the United States, was one of the most famous, yet one of the most unknown sufferers of chronic back pain. According to the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, chronic lower back pain had an impact on the life and especially the death of the 35th president.

Back and neck pain are the most common sources of chronic pain in the world, yet people choose to live with this pain instead of taking care of it. Some don't want to spend the time getting it looked at while others just chalk it up to old age. No matter what you believe the cause of your chronic back or neck pain is, you should always seek a pain free life and never settle for less.