The UK faces a major health crisis caused by a surge in back and neck problems due to increased sedentary behavior, obesity, an aging population and remote working, medical leaders have warned.
Around one million people in Britain are too unwell to work due to back or neck problems, official figures show, threatening to derail ministers' efforts to expand the workforce and grow the economy. be.
An analysis of figures published by the Guardian shows that welfare costs for people with back problems alone have tripled to £1.4bn a year over the last 20 years, and are four times cheaper than before the pandemic. has increased by more than 1.
Health leaders say back and neck problems are on the rise significantly due to factors such as unhealthy lifestyles and dramatic changes in work patterns, leaving many of those affected without access to treatment. He said that it is accelerating rapidly as well.
In most cases, back and neck problems can be resolved or improved with prompt physical therapy assessment, advice, and rehabilitation.
However, the NHS is facing a shortage of physiotherapy staff and thousands of patients remain on waiting lists. Some people with severe pain have waited so long that they develop other health conditions, such as depression.
Health leaders said the crisis was so severe that A&E departments were seeing people with back and neck pain because they had no other option.
Professor Camilla Hawthorne, president of the Royal College of General Physicians and Britain's most senior family physician, said she was concerned that back pain had become “an all too common condition, affecting millions of people”. expressed.
GPs are increasingly seeing patients with back and neck problems that are “really debilitating”, she said. “In some cases, you may not be able to carry out daily activities without experiencing severe pain,” she added.
Latest figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 2.9 million people have back or neck-related problems, up from 2.6 million in 2019.
Some 995,000 people were classified as economically inactive for that reason between January and March last year, a 28% increase from 779,000 in the same period in 2019.
An ONS spokesperson said: “In recent years we have seen a sharp increase in the number of people citing back and neck problems as the main reason for leaving work long-term.
“Our analysis shows that a significant contributor to long-term illness overall is the large number of baby boomers approaching retirement. It is also possible that changes in work habits during the pandemic, such as increased working from home, contributed to the increase in back and neck complaints, as the largest increase in this category was from 2021 to 2022. ”
Hawthorne said there could be several factors contributing to the increase in back and neck problems. “People are working longer hours and living with multiple chronic conditions. There is also evidence of a link between low back pain and obesity.
“New ways of working, often not having the right equipment or waiting until the problem is more severe to seek treatment, can also be a factor, and require deeper understanding to ensure the problem is properly addressed. That would be interesting to investigate.”
Sam Bede, an advanced practice physical therapist, has recently seen an increase in the number of people “coming in with chronic back pain.” “This can be caused by a variety of factors, including sedentary behavior, working from home without the right environment, but it can also be related to stress, physically demanding work, or injury.
“The pandemic has made this even worse, with long waiting lists to get the support you need to manage your pain and return to normal function.”
Ishmael Beckford, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Chartered Institute of Physiotherapy, said: “The big problem is that people are not able to access the help they need…More people are presenting to A&E with neck and back pain.”
“The fact that people are desperately seeking help correlates with the latest NHS data. There are currently nearly 310,000 patients on waiting lists for community musculoskeletal (MSK) services.”
Mr Beckford said the figure was “alarming”, with around one million people living with long-term conditions due to back or neck pain.
“We know that untreated back pain is having an impact on patients, the NHS and the wider economy with many people currently out of work. There is an urgent need to increase the number of physiotherapy staff in the NHS and other sectors. there is.”
Spending on people with back problems through Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and its successor benefit Personal Independence Allowance (PIP) has tripled in the past 20 years, even after adjusting for inflation, government figures show. became.
Through these two benefits, the government will spend £1.4bn on back pain sufferers in 2022-23, up from £1.3bn in 2019 and £405m in 2002-03.
Rachel Suff, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said the rise in back pain was extremely worrying.
“Our physical health and mental health are interconnected and employers need to develop holistic strategies to prevent illnesses such as MSK injuries. NHS treatment waiting times are long There is no doubt that this is making the situation worse.”
Kate Shoesmith, deputy chief executive of the Work and Employment Federation, said ministers needed to “also tackle the real problems behind unbearably long NHS waiting lists”.
“Rather than talking about training and recruiting more staff into the NHS for 2030, we should start with better support and more flexible working options for the staff currently working in the NHS, which is extremely important. It feels like a far away goal.”
