The characteristic clinical symptoms of NP are continuous or spontaneously provoked pain. NP can arise from the overstimulation of pain-transmitting neuronal cell bodies and the structural alteration of synapses in the cornu of the spinal cord, interneurons, and glial cells, resulting in the development of chronic pain. The normal function of the inflammatory response is to remove damaged nerves, promote nerve regeneration, and deliver inflammatory chemokines to neuronal cell bodies, thereby stimulating proximal nociceptors and causing pain without tissue damage. NP occurs when normal inflammatory responses are directed toward the body in a harmful manner. The International Association for the Study of Pain defined NP as pain initiated or caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction in the nervous system. įreynhagen and Baron reported that 20%–35% of patients with LBP reported accompanying neuropathic pain (NP). An estimated 2,060,829 Koreans experienced CLBP in 2007, which is an incidence much higher than that observed in other chronic diseases.

In the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2007, 15.4% of adults aged 20–89 years reported experiencing LBP, and 5.7% reported having chronic LBP (CLBP) that lasted for more than three months during the past year.

Over 75% of the total population experiences at least one episode of low back pain (LBP) during their lifetime, and its annual prevalence has been reported to be 15%–45%.

The Bathtub by Soon-jae Shin