Low Back Pain

What Happens

The course of low back pain depends both on its cause and on how well you treat your back.

• Most low back pain lasts less than 3 months. Overall, 60% of low back pain goes away within 1 week, 90% within 6 weeks, and up to 95% recover within 12 weeks. Over 98% of low back pain is gone within 1 year.¹
• After the first time you have hurt your back, you are more likely to hurt your back again. Many people who recover from low back pain will have a repeat episode within a year. Most people will have it again sometime during their lives.
• Long-lasting (chronic) pain not only makes you tired, irritable, and less productive and active, but it can trigger other problems. If your back pain causes you to use your body in different ways (for example to limp or to sit differently), pain can develop in other areas of the body. Pain can also cause biochemical changes in your body that tend to keep the pain going. Without specialized treatment, chronic pain syndrome can become disabling.

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Author:	Shannon Erstad, MBA/MPH	Last Updated: February 6, 2008
Medical Review:	William M. Green, MD - Emergency Medicine Robert B. Keller, MD - Orthopedics
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