A chiropractor from Brighton is behind a breakthrough in back pain treatment that could save thousands of people a year from expensive surgery.

Richard Hollis, who works at Sundial Clinics in the city, is part of the team which has discovered that 40 per cent of lower back pain is caused by bacterial infections and as a result can be treated with antibiotics.

He said: “These back pain sufferers typically didn’t respond to treatment and not only do we now know why, for most of these sufferers there is a cure.

“In years to come I expect this treatment will become standard.

“We are talking about probably half of all spinal surgery for back pain being replaced by taking antibiotics, which would save the NHS about £250 million let alone the savings from decreased medication and time off work.”

It was previously believed that this type of back pain was either skeletal or muscular and as a result expensive surgery was often prescribed.

The NHS currently spends at least £480 million each year on back surgery, most of which is to relieve pain. The new antibiotic treatment, which costs £114 for a 100-day course, could soon be available for patients in the UK.