If you have back pain or sciatic nerve pain, you’re not alone. Globally, one out of 10 people suffers from lower back pain, and back pain is also the number one cause of job disability worldwide.

The problem appears to be particularly prevalent in the US. According to estimates, as many as eight out of 10 Americans struggle with back pain, and this affliction has now become a primary cause of pain killer addiction.

I was one of its victims because I failed to appreciate the dangers of excessive sitting and suffered with low back pain for many years. Now I firmly believe back pain can be successfully treated using a combination of posture-correcting exercises and strictly limiting sitting.

Sadly, opioid drugs are typically prescribed as a first line of treatment for back pain,¹ not exercise, and these drugs have now surpassed both heroin and cocaine as the leading cause of fatal drug overdoses in the US.

If you have back pain and suffer depression or anxiety you’re at even greater risk for opioid abuse and addiction, according to recent research.

Depression Combined with Back Pain Raises Risk of Drug Abuse

As reported by Medical News Today,² 55 chronic lower back patients with symptoms of depression or anxiety participated in the study. During a six month period, they were given either morphine, oxycodone, or a placebo to take as needed for the pain.

Those who rated high in terms of anxiety or depression not only experienced greater side effects; they also got less relief from the drugs, and were more likely to abuse them.

Compared to those with low levels of depression or anxiety, these patients experienced:

•  50 percent less improvement of their back pain
•  75 percent more opioid abuse

According to the authors, this highlights the importance of identifying symptoms of depression prior to prescribing opioid painkillers for back pain, as the risks are so much greater in such instances, and the benefits more limited.