Kenneth Covinsky, University of California, San Francisco said that those aged 50 to 59 with pain were far more comparable to subjects aged 80 to 89 without pain.

'Four percent were able to jog one mile and 55 percent were able to walk several blocks, making pain sufferers appear 20 to 30 years older than non-pain sufferers,' Covinsky added.

'Our study cannot determine whether pain causes disability or whether disability causes pain. We think it is likely that both are true and that pain and disability worsen in a downward spiral,' said Covinsky.

These findings were published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.