A molecular basis for low back pain in Western industrialized cultures.

In spite of billions of dollars spent annually on research and treatment of low back pain (LBP) in Western industrialized cultures, the cause(s) of this complaint remain obscure. The modern sedentary lifestyle is hypothesized to create disuse changes beginning with muscle, which ultimately causes interference with the adaptive and structural dynamics of specialized connective tissue. Calcium-glycosaminoglycan kinetics play a central role in the proposed sequence of events leading to collagen dehydration, fibrillation, and ultimately gross structural incompetence.