Living with chronic pain can be all-consuming. Chronic pain can limit your ability to fully participate in, and strip you of your enjoyment of, your personal or professional life. When simple physical activities become big tasks, it’s common that heavy feelings may follow. Feelings of isolation, anxiety and depression are common.
Despite how common chronic pain is and the myriad of available treatment options, life with chronic pain is still widely misunderstood.
What Is Chronic Pain?
Chronic pain is any pain that persists for three months or longer.
Chronic pain by the numbers:
- 50 million (1 in 5) US adults suffer from chronic pain [1]
- 12.5 million US adults suffer from chronic back pain.
- #2: Chronic back pain is the second most common reason for health care visits (after the common cold).
- #1: Chronic pain is the leading cause of disability in the US.
Common Misconceptions of Chronic Pain
Some common misconceptions about chronic pain include:
Chronic pain is not manageable.
This is false. While often not completely curable, chronic pain like so many chronic diseases can often be well managed, limiting its impact on your everyday life.
Pain management treatment options are one size fits all.
This is false. Your pain physician has a host of treatment options available and will work with you to customize a plan.
Chronic pain can always be diagnosed by an abnormal test.
This is false. Pain cannot always be shown through an abnormal test but that doesn’t mean the pain cannot be well managed.
Chronic pain medication must be avoided due to risk of addiction.
This is false. When used appropriately, many patients find the risk of addiction is far outweighed by the quality of life improvement provided by well-managed medication.
Chronic pain is an unavoidable part of aging.
This is false. While chronic pain does increase with age, the impact that it has can more often than not be dramatically reduced.
Chronic pain can limit your ability to do the things you love and, left untreated, can result in isolation, anxiety and depression. Ongoing chronic pain should not be your norm. Duly Health and Care pain medicine specialists and physiatrists are here to help. Schedule an appointment with your provider today.
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I appreciate the profound impact pain can have on an individual’s quality of life. When patients enter our clinic they should be very optimistic, as the tools at our disposal are constantly improving. To achieve the best outcomes, I start with the most conservative approach and progress through more advanced interventions as pain and symptoms warrant.
