Unfortunately the story of this man with his back pain doesn't surprise me at all. I recently had a long running bout of neck and shoulder pain which came on suddenly (having never suffered with this before) It went on for well over 6 months before I managed to get a scan to find out what was wrong, in the meantime survivng on pain killers that had no effect, and being unable to sleep for more than about 3 hours a night. I couldn't move my arm properly, carry anything and had numbness and pins and needles in my hand. The pain got increasingly worse, to the point that I was so exhausted, and beside myself with pain that my husband took me to a+e. When I saw the doctor after pacing and crying for a few hours (which I understand completely) I was offered weaker painkillers than the ones I was taking and told to go home, this pain may never ease up I may well just be stuck with it forever (!!!!) I'm sure you can imagine how this made me feel! Eventually I got a scan, which showed I had a slipped disc in my neck which was pressing on a nerve which runs down my arm (by this point i already knew this as I had been seeing a chiropracter, and had x-rays done) Eventually I was told I could be referred to see a specialist, but this was also going to take an awfully long time. In the end I saw the surgeon privately and had the disc removed, and was completely pain free after a week! It took 10 and half months from beginning to end... there were times when I literally would have taken ANYTHING to ease the pain... in the end I was on gabapentin, morphine, and a hotch-potch of other things (32 tablets a day) and was still in agony! I don't think back and neck problems are taken anywhere near seriously enough, and the amount of pain someone is in should really be taken into account! I understand the NHS struggles a great deal financially, it just felt inhumane!