OBJECTIVES: A database analysis was carried out to study the prevalence and incidence for low back pain (LBP) conditions in England, with the later intention of identifying factors associated with success of spinal interventions. METHODS: A dataset linking UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink primary care data to English Hospital Episode Statistics data was acquired. Eligibility criteria included record of a primary care consultation with a diagnosis code from a set of LBP conditions during 1997-2013 inclusive. Patient analysis was stratified by nine LBP diagnostic subgroups. To estimate the prevalence and incidence of LBP conditions relevant primary care records were linked to form pain spells for each patient. RESULTS: Temporal patterns in the data show that the mid-year prevalence and yearly incidence of conditions such as lumbar disc degeneration, lumbar spondylosis, disc displacement or prolapse and lumbago with sciatica decreased during the study period. Contrastingly both the prevalence and incidence sharply increased between the years of 2001 and 2004 for chronic LBP, possibly reflecting an update to the diagnostic codes. The mid-year prevalence in 2013 ranged between 0.01 cases per 1,000 persons for lumbar spondylosis with myelopathy to 6.73 cases per 1,000 persons for chronic LBP. The incidence in the same year ranged from <0.005 new cases per 10,000 person years (PY) for lumbar spondylosis with myelopathy to 6.83 new cases per 10,000 PY for chronic LBP. The prevalence and incidence for the majority of LBP conditions was greater in females compared to males and generally increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and incidence of LBP conditions have been steadily decreasing since the late 1990s, with the exception of chronic LBP which showed a steep increase after 2001. Between the years of 2004 to 2013 the prevalence and incidence of chronic LBP has been stable.