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I saw a report that said 80 percent of Americans will have back pain at some point in their lives. I'm 56 years old and so far I've never had back pain that I can remember. Are these all people with injuries or what?

Those statistics generally refer to low back pain, which may or may not have a known cause. Often the pain comes on without injury and is called mechanical low back pain.

This means it's likely caused by one of the moving parts in the spine. This would be any of the soft tissues such as ligaments, joint capsule, or muscles. Tumors, infection, or fractures are not included in the mechanical category.

Some conditions seem more likely to occur depending on our age. Younger people are more likely to suffer from herniated discs. Older adults begin to get spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal. An equal number of adults develop degenerative disc disease (DDD). DDD is more common with aging as the discs become thinner and give less support to the spine.

According to data gathered from the National Spine Network, these three conditions occur in nearly equal numbers across adults ages 30 to 55 years old. Less often but just as disabling are adults affected by spondylolisthesis.

Spondylolisthesis is a condition in which there's a small fracture in the supporting column of the vertebra. This allows the body of the vertebra to slide forward. The result is a pulling on the soft tissues and joints at that segment. The spinal cord or spinal nerve at that level can get pinched or compressed causing neurologic problems.

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