Costlier Back Care, More Disability

Americans are spending more on care of back and neck problems, surveys show. But they don’t seem to be getting better. A new study looked at health surveys from 1997 through 2005. People with back or neck problems had 73% higher medical costs than other people. These costs rose faster than overall health care costs. Yet more people said they had limits on their physical function because of their problems. This number rose from 20.7% in 1997 to 24.7% in 2005. USA Today wrote about the study February 13. It was in the Journal of the American Medical Association.