October 16 is world spine day, a day that reminds us that a damaged spine can impact every part of our life. And any damage to the spine has long-term consequences; even more so among children and adolescents. Children and teenagers; can end up with chronic back pain for any number of reasons, including injuries from sports or stressing overly flexible joints. In rare cases, they may be born with spinal problems. For instance, the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt is born with a curvature in his spine. Hollywood’s empress of entertainment Elizabeth Taylor was born with scoliosis, a medical condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve.

Adding perspective to adolescent back pain is a recent study in the Journal of Public Health - connecting substance abuse and back pain. Adolescents who experience back pain more frequently are also more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and report mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. For example, 14-15-year-olds that experienced pain more than once a week were 2-3 times more likely to have drunk alcohol or smoked tobacco in the past month than those who rarely or never had pain.