Low-back pain affects 25 percent of Americans, according to a comprehensive report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.

The report, “Health United States, 2006,” identifies the common causes of pain, which (in addition to low-back pain) include migraines or severe headaches, and joint pain (especially knees).

“We chose to focus on pain in this report because it is rarely discussed as a condition in and of itself—it is mostly viewed as a byproduct of another condition,” said lead study author Amy Bernstein. “We also chose this topic because the associated costs of pain are posing a great burden on the healthcare system, and because there are great disparities among different population groups in terms of who suffers from pain.”

The report says that one in four U.S. adults say they suffered a day-long bout of pain in the past month, and one in 10 say the pain lasted a year or more.

Some of the other pain statistics that are of interest to chiropractors include:

The report also finds that the United States spent an average of $6,280 per person on healthcare in 2004. Seven percent of adults under 65 said they passed up getting needed care in the past 12 months due to costs.

The report is available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm