Pain Awareness Month 2022

UNVEILING LIFE WITH PAIN

The U.S. Pain Foundation seeks to raise awareness about the individual experiences facing 50 million Americans living with chronic pain during Pain Awareness Month.

The initiative, #LifeWithPain, will show the real-life impact and devastating burden of chronic pain on individuals. Each day, we will share a statistic from our A Chronic Pain Crisis Report on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, along with one article a week that focuses on different aspects of living with chronic pain. We will also host a two-part webinar event that brings together experts in the field of pain care to address the Patient/Provider Relationship Under Stress And How Do We Improve It? In addition, we have planned a month-long social media challenge encouraging the public to share their #LifeWithPain experiences.

On this page, you’ll find all the information you need to become involved this Pain Awareness Month about #LifeWithPain.

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Articles

Caregiver Burnout: A Side Effect of Chronic Pain that Can’t Be Ignored

Sep 26, 2022

Difficult emotions and a degree of stress are inherent in any relationship: husband-wife, parent-child, domestic partners, LGBTQ+ relationships, boyfriend-girlfriend, employee-boss. This is part of life. Some of us are good at handling difficult...

The Comorbidity Factor: Why Some People May Be More Likely to Experience Pain–And Have Multiple Conditions

Sep 19, 2022

Any health condition that causes chronic pain is difficult to handle, but research increasingly shows that certain individuals are physiologically more prone to developing chronic pain conditions of any kind, and that the interconnectedness between...

The Fraught Relationship Between Patients and Providers & What Can Be Done About It

Sep 13, 2022

From March 29 to April 12, 2022, the U.S. Pain Foundation conducted a nationwide survey to better understand the impact of chronic pain. A total of 2,378 individuals responded to the survey. Respondents included 2,275 people with chronic pain...

Taking control of your pain: How self-management strategies can help

Sep 12, 2022

After months of living with painful, often excruciating, symptoms and working with your medical care team to find the cause and treat it, you’re told that there is no cure. Your pain is no longer acute, it’s chronic, and you need to learn to...

The landscape of therapeutics for chronic pain in 2022

Sep 5, 2022

When the US Pain Foundation recently surveyed 2,378 individuals to better understand the public health crisis of chronic pain, 42% of the respondents said that their top policy issue is the want for new medications for chronic pain. But while there...

Understanding Life With Pain

Aug 30, 2022

Research tells us that 50 million Americans live with chronic pain, or pain that lasts most days or every day for three months or more. Of this group, 20 million experience high-impact chronic pain, or pain that interferes with basic functioning...

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EVENTS

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

There are MANY easy ways you can help create awareness about chronic pain this September, such as:

- - Download our free Pain Awareness Month frame for your social media profile picture.
  - Like, comment, and share/retweet our daily posts on social media.
  - Use the hashtag, #LifeWithPain in all your social media posts in September
  - Read and share each weekly article.
  - Register and attend our two-part webinar event.
  - Join our social media challenge by posting a picture or going “Live” to share your #LifeWithPain!

An easy way to amplify support for a cause is through your social media profile picture. This September, join us in changing the frame around our profile pics to show who we are and what we face living a #LifeWithPain.

This September we hope #LifeWithPain goes viral. To do that, we need your help! Post a picture or reel using the hashtag, #LifeWithPain, in a visual way. We even created a downloadable card that you can print or copy (to create your own) to make it easy. Then, after you post, encourage your friends and family to do the same.

We want to start a larger conversation about chronic pain and its true impact on individual lives. To do this, we are asking YOU to talk about who you are, what you have been through, how pain has impacted your life, what you hope changes, and more. We hope you will go “Live” on Instagram or Facebook to discuss your #LifeWithPain. To help do this, we have created template scripts around different topics. But you also can just talk freely!

Resources

A Chronic Pain Crisis report

Daily STATS

- - In early-2022, the U.S. Pain Foundation conducted a nationwide survey. 2,278 individuals living with chronic pain responded.
  - 71% of respondents living with chronic pain consider themselves disabled.
  - 99% of respondents say pain has restricted their ability to engage in routine activities, like exercise, household chores, sleeping, and socializing.
  - 52% of respondents report their average pain level is 7 or more on a scale of 1-10.
  - 43% of respondents in states where medical cannabis is illegal report they would try it if it were legalized.
  - Nearly one-quarter (24%) of respondents said NO SIDE EFFECT would prevent them from trying a medication to manage pain.
  - 73% of respondents with chronic pain found activity restriction to be the most helpful self-management technique.
  - 79% of respondents feel stigmatized because of chronic pain.
  - Only 42% of respondents say their current health care professional helps them understand different options for managing their pain.
  - 19% of respondents living with pain shared they are not seeing a health care professional to manage their pain. The reasons: 67% don’t feel supported by health care professionals, 28% say due to stigmatization, 23% lack of access near them.
  - 88% of respondents want providers to continue offering telehealth options.
  - Over two-thirds of respondents live with back pain (68%).
  - There are more than 150 types of headache diseases. Some of the types our community reported living with include… 36% headaches, 27% chronic migraine, 26% migraine, 9% cluster headache.
  - 35% of respondents reported that one or more of their conditions is the result of a trauma or illness.