If we look to 100 spinal-pain-patients, luckily just 4-7% of these people have a positive so called "red flag" cause of pain. Examples for red flags are tumor, inflammation, neurological deficite, fracture, acute osteoporosis, spondylolisthesis,... - but more than 90% out of these 100 have none of the red flags, but mostly complex functional problems out of the joints, ligaments, tendons, or fasciae. Within one week 60% of the patients are back to the job. After 12 weeks of spinal pain 90-95% of the patients are painfree or at least pain. Backpain is responsible of >40% of the early retirerer.

Just 5-10% of the  back pain patients become chronic, where the normal mechanistic view is not valid any more.