Lower back pain causes more disability than any other condition, experts say.
Almost one in ten people suffer from lower back pain, according to a new study.
Researchers said that the condition causes more years to be lost due to disability than any other.
They cautioned that because of the ageing population the problem will be even more extensive in coming decades.
The study, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, examined data from the Global Burden of Disease study which assesses the health of people in 187 countries for 1990, 2005 and 2010.
Out of 291 conditions, low back pain topped the league table in terms of years lost to disability.
They also assessed the toll taken by low back pain in terms of "disability adjusted life years" - which is worked out by combining the number of years of life lost as a result of early death, and the number of years lived with disability.
Lower back pain came sixth in the "disability adjusted life years" table.
The authors said that 9.4 per cent of people suffer lower back pain and the condition has the highest prevalence in Western Europe.
"With ageing populations throughout the world, but especially in low and middle income countries, the number of people living with low back pain will increase substantially over coming decades," the authors wrote.
"Governments, health service and research providers and donors need to pay far greater attention to the burden that low back pain causes than what they had done previously."
