knowvember 2025
KNOWRESEARCH.
Each November, the U.S. Pain Foundation highlights a topic that matters deeply to the pain community. This year, we’re turning our attention to the often invisible, but essential, world of pain research.
Pain research often feels distant from the people it’s meant to serve. Conducted within academic institutions and written in highly technical language, it rarely reflects the urgency or complexity of living with pain. It can feel impersonal, disconnected, and out of reach. This year’s campaign is about changing that: by making research more transparent, more inclusive, and more grounded in real experiences.
Throughout the month, we’ll share a series of articles, key facts, and resources across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter), highlight new data from our national survey, and host a webinar and interactive online events featuring researchers, advocates, and people living with pain.
On this page, you’ll find everything you need to get involved—and help ensure pain research is more compassionate, accessible, and connected to real-world care.
Because pain deserves more than guesswork—it deserves research.
This KNOWvember, it’s time to get to #KNOWresearch.
Get Involved: How to Make a Difference This KNOWvember
- Help Spread the Word: Share #KNOWresearch posts, forward newsletters, and invite others to join the conversation. Every share expands awareness and strengthens our collective call for progress.
- Attend Our Webinars: Join our live KNOWvember webinars to hear from researchers, advocates, and people with lived experience. Learn how pain research is evolving—and how your participation helps move it forward.
- Read & Share Articles: We’ll be publishing new articles throughout KNOWvember that highlight key insights about pain research and lived experience. Share them to spark awareness and conversation.
- Explore the Data: Download our pain research findings resource to better understand the gaps and help shape a more inclusive future.
- Discover the latest INvisible Project (coming soon!): Read the stories of individuals who have participated in pain research alongside insights into how the research process works and why lived experience is essential at every step.
- Explore Pain Research Opportunities: Knowledge is power. Learn how to find studies, ask the right questions, and make informed choices about participation—all while ensuring that people with pain have a voice in shaping the science that affects them too.
- Take Action: Later this month, we’ll be sharing a brief poll to learn what matters most to you. By taking part in our poll, you’ll also have the option to join U.S. Pain’s Research Interest List to hear first about advisory panels, surveys, and opportunities to partner with researchers.
Articles
From Overlooked to Understood: Why Research Must Reflect Real Lives
Every November, the U.S. Pain Foundation brings our community together to spotlight something powerful: knowledge. We call it KNOWvember—a month-long campaign amplifying a theme that matters deeply to the pain community. This year, we’re focusing...
#KNOWresearch
The Data
In May 2025, the U.S. Pain Foundation conducted a national survey, gathering insights from more than 2,400 individuals. One area explored was research.
These findings—based on responses from 2,098 adults living with chronic pain and 87 parents or guardians of children with pain—offer a clearer picture of what people know about research, why participation remains low, and what must change to make it more inclusive, accessible, and meaningful.
View the Pain Research Resource to see what the pain community had to say—and where we go from here.
From overlooked to understood: advancing pain research together
upcoming events
This KNOWvember is spotlighting the importance of pain research and the voices driving change. Explore events, resources, and stories throughout the month—and keep checking back for opportunities to get involved.
Be In The KNOW: Pain Research Then, Now & Next — Progress, Partnerships & the Power of Voice
Join us Monday, November 17, from 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET, for a timely conversation on the past, present, and future of pain research—why lived experience must shape what comes next, and how programs like K12 are building a new model of partnership between researchers and the pain community. Register here to attend this free webinar.
Be In The KNOW: Breaking Barriers in Pain Research
Join Burel Goodin, PhD, president of USASP, on Thursday, November 20, from 1-2 p.m. ET, for a candid conversation about the challenges people face when participating in pain research—and how we can create more inclusive, community-driven studies. Hear real experiences and learn how to get involved as a research partner, not just a participant. Register here to attend this free webinar.
meet some of the researchers behind pain science
This KNOWvember, we’re focusing on making pain research more visible.
After reviewing responses from our recent national survey, one finding stood out: 70% of individuals living with pain weren’t aware that pain research was even happening. That number speaks volumes. If research is going to reflect the realities of living with pain, it has to start by being seen, understood, and inclusive.
So, we reached out to researchers across the country—those dedicating their work to studying pain—and asked them to share, in their own words: What are you studying, and why pain?
Check back throughout the month as we add new videos that pull back the curtain on the science of pain—and highlight the heart behind the work.
invisible project: pain research edition
Our newest issue of the INvisible Project magazine dives in to big questions:
What is pain research—and why does it matter?
How do studies work, and where do real people fit in?
Click here to check out our featured profiles, read key articles, and order free copies.
VIEW PAST CAMPAIGNS
Every KNOWvember tells a story of learning. Look back at the themes that helped inform and empower the pain community.
The U.S. Pain Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of our 2025 KNOWvember sponsors: Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Platinum Sponsor) and Eli Lilly (Silver Sponsor).
Their support makes this campaign possible, enabling us to independently create and share educational content that advances the conversation around inclusive, compassionate, and impactful pain research.
