text: have you suffered from back pain?  what was the cause and how did it affect you and your family? i am trying to answer the question why back pain is so common.  by finding out the causes will be a great help in trying to answer this question.  i am also interested in finding out whether people really do look after their backs when going about their daily tasks and whether they think before lifting, stretching and moving etc.  back pain also affects industry and i would like to know if your back pain was/is work related and whether it meant taking time off of work. a very high percentage of the western world's population would answer "yes" to this question. mostly caused by repetitive patterns of movement either at work or in a particular sport. this includes lengthy sitting at a desk. these patterns usually develop an imbalance in the body of short and weak muscles, either left/right or front/back of joints. after injury we are given rest (ant-inflammatory meds)and exercises. in time the pain usually goes. so then what do we do? go back to work/sport, doing same old movements, no need to continue those exercises; "i feel better now". then we wonder why the problem comes back some time later?? duh? i had a back history many years ago and have solved the problem by treating and managing the cause.