People with persistent back pain or persistent headaches are twice as likely to suffer from both disorders, a new study from the University of Warwick has revealed.

The results, published in the Journal of Headache and Pain, suggest an association between the two types of pain that could point to a shared treatment for both.

The researchers from Warwick Medical School who are funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) led a systematic review of fourteen studies with a total of 460,195 participants that attempt to quantify the association between persistent headaches and persistent low back pain. They found an association between having persistent low back pain and having persistent (chronic) headaches, with patients experiencing one typically being twice as likely to experience the other compared to people without either headaches or back pain. The association is also stronger for people affected by migraine.

The researchers focused on people with chronic headache disorders, those who will have had headaches on most days for at least three months, and people with persistent low back pain that experience that pain day after day. These are two very common disorders that are leading causes of disability worldwide.

Around one in five people have persistent low back pain and one in 30 have chronic headaches. The researchers estimate that just over one in 100 people (or well over half a million people) in the UK have both.

What are the main findings of the study?

A) In the UK, one in 100 people have both persistent back pain and persistent headaches.

B) There is a link between persistent back pain or persistent headache.

C) Headaches are the only cause of disability.

D) People with persistent back pain or headaches are half as likely to develop either condition.

E) The relationship between persistent headache and persistent low back pain is not quantifiable.