All Ages. Countless Diagnoses. Millions of Stories. One Movement.

#OneVoiceForPain | Pain Awareness Month 2026

Chronic pain affects the lives of more than 60 million Americans—not to mention the countless people who care for them.

They span all ages. They live with countless diagnoses. Their stories number in the millions. Yet despite the enormous impact of chronic pain, too many people still feel isolated, misunderstood, dismissed, or unheard.

This Pain Awareness Month, we’re bringing together those millions of stories to create #OneVoiceForPain. Because no one with pain has to face it alone. And no one is going to create a better future for those living with pain by working alone.

Each week, we’ll explore the building blocks of this movement, highlighting the importance of banding together to change pain.

All Ages

Pain doesn’t discriminate by age.

An estimated 11% to 38% of children under 18 live with chronic pain—but a lack of research and understanding of pediatric pain means diagnoses are frequently delayed and children’s pain is often brushed aside.

On the other end of the spectrum, chronic pain in older adults is often dismissed as an unavoidable byproduct of aging—but this stereotype means that older individuals experiencing pain miss out on treatments that can help ease it.

More broadly, across every stage of life, people with pain may struggle to have their symptoms understood, taken seriously, and treated effectively.

During Week 1, we will explore how pain experiences, challenges, and needs can change throughout life—as well as identifying the common threads that connect people living with pain across generations. 

Countless Diagnoses

Chronic pain is a component of hundreds, if not thousands, of distinct medical diagnoses.

Many people living with pain live with multiple conditions. In fact, respondents in a recent U.S. Pain Foundation survey reported an average of 10 distinct diagnoses per person; some had received more than 20 diagnoses.

Many believed they had additional undiagnosed conditions—and some had not yet received an answer for their pain at all.

Different diagnoses can involve distinct symptoms, treatments, and challenges. But many people living with pain share experiences that feel all too familiar, regardless of the diagnosis—or diagnoses—they live with.

Our Week 2 articles and resources will explore the impact of certain diagnoses—and the familiar truths that bring them all together.

Millions of Stories

We cannot understand chronic pain—or improve how it is treated—without listening to the people who live with it every day.

During Week 3, we will explore how every story has value. Lived experience can educate others, challenge misconceptions, influence research and policy, and help someone else with pain feel less alone. 

We’ll share personal accounts from people who opened up about the difficulties of living with pain, and what keeps them going. We’ll discuss the importance of learning how to share your story—and the impact it can create.

We’ll also highlight what we learned from listening to thousands of people living with pain, and show what becomes possible when individual voices come together as one.

One Movement

During our final week of Pain Awareness Month, we’ll bring together the pieces—all ages, countless diagnoses, millions of stories—and show what can happen when those experiences converge into one movement. 

We’ll explore how advocacy, research, better access to individualized care, public understanding, and sound pain policy can help create meaningful change for people living with pain. That includes the recently introduced bipartisan Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act, which would improve national chronic pain data to help drive better research, policy, treatments, and outcomes. 

We can’t change pain without collaboration. Real progress requires all of us—people living with pain, loved ones and care partners, advocates, healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers, community organizations, and the public. Working together to create #OneVoiceForPain, we can build a future where pain is better understood, people are taken seriously, and everyone has access to the care and support they need.

Join Us This Month

Throughout September, we will share:

• Weekly articles
• Daily #OneVoiceForPain social media posts
• Blogs written by individuals living with pain
• Virtual webinars and events
• Helpful guides and resources
• Recent survey insights
• Pain Awareness Month proclamations from around the country
• …and more

Follow along all month at our Pain Awareness Month landing page. Read and share our articles and resources. Join a webinar or event. Share your story. Listen to the experiences of others. Help raise awareness in your community. And add your voice to the millions working toward a future where pain is better understood and people living with pain are better supported.

Every voice matters. Every story matters. And when millions of voices come together, they can help drive greater understanding, better care, and lasting change. Together, we are #OneVoiceForPain.

This Pain Awareness Month, let’s change pain—together.