Facts About Backs

• Lower back pain affects four out of five adults sometime in their lives.
• 65 Million Americans suffer from lower back pain every year.
• Almost 14 million people consult a physician each year because of back pain.
• Low back problems are the most common cause of disability in people under age 45.
• Americans spend approximately $50 billion each year on lower back pain, which is a leading contributor to missed work.
• The vertebral column, also called the backbone, is made up of 24 vertebrae (7 Cervical, 12 Thoracic and 5 Lumbar).
• More than 500,000 spine surgeries are peformed annually in the United States.
• Disc degeneration occurs during aging and it is estimated that 30 adults over 30 years of age have degenerative disc disease.
• About 12 million Americans suffer from degenerative disc disease.

About Charite Artificial Disc

• The world's first commercially available artificial disc.
• Developed in Germany by two surgeons.
• Available outside of the United States since 1987.
• Implanted in more than 7,500 patients outside the U.S.
• Manufactured by DePuy Spine, Ind., a Johnson & Johnson company based in Raynham, Mass.