ABSTRACT
In many countries, back pain is the most frequent diagnosis behind longterm absence from the workplace due to sickness and disability take-up. In fact, disability originating from back pain accounts for around 30 per cent of total disability benefit costs in many countries, and these costs have been increasing persistently for the past three decades. The economic side of this involves the exit of human capital resources from the labor market, with consequent costs for benefit systems. With low birth rates, especially for European workforce will begin to shrink within the next two decades. At the same time old-age pensioners will increase by around 50 per cent. Confronted with this prospect, countries can no longer afford to ignore the mechanisms leading to early exit from the labor force due to back pain. Something will have to happen to change the trend.
