Background: Chronic back pain has a major physical and psycho-social impact. There have been few subjective assessments of everyday life in relation to migration and ethnicity. Through a descriptive and qualitative cross-cultural design, the aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of how Turkish immigrants experience living with back pain.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study based on interviews with Turkish immigrants suffering from CBP recruited from a rheumatology outpatient clinic. The analysis was based on Giorgi’s phenomenological analysis.

Results: Eleven Turkish participants with chronic back pain (mean age 47.6) were recruited. Three essences resulted from the analysis: “Overwhelming and prevailing pain” – reflecting pain taking control of everyday life, “Being distressed in community life” – encompassing how pain causes changes in social roles, and “Looking for a way out of pain” – referring to feeling lost when being treated in the healthcare system, finding pain-management strategies and returning to Turkey for assistance.

Conclusion: Chronic back pain has a significant influence on daily life. Pain changes the feeling of identity relating to close relationships and in the Labor market. Most participants’ proficiency in Danish language skills posed a challenge for the existing treatment paradigm, in which information is crucial for successful rehabilitation.