New hope for chronic pain sufferers
Living with chronic pain and its associated stigma can impact everyday life for sufferers, but new treatment options offer hope for relief.
At least 3.6 million Australians live with chronic pain.
This is pain that usually lasts for more than three months.
“There are around 500 types of chronic pain conditions, including lower back pain, osteoarthritis and migraine,” Chronic Pain Australia vice president Nicolette Ellis says.
What causes chronic pain?
Everything from injury, surgery and musculoskeletal problems can cause chronic pain.
Underlying health conditions can also be a cause.
These include endometriosis, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Sometimes, no cause can be identified.
What it’s like to live with chronic pain
“There isn’t one aspect of a person’s life that isn’t impacted when they live with chronic pain,” Nicolette says.
“Chronic pain puts you on a merry-go-round of healthcare appointments, challenges finding answers or understanding why the pain persists, financial challenges and difficulty staying within work.
“It also places immense pressure on your relationships.
“It’s what the pain can take away from your life that’s the primary struggle – and trying to figure out how (you) can get back some quality of life, despite pain.”
On top of this, many people who experience chronic pain also have another challenge to deal with – the stigma.
Half of all people living with chronic pain experience stigma, according to Chronic Pain Australia’s 2022 National Pain Survey.
For people with chronic pain, stigma comes from all directions.
“Concerningly, many face stigma from those closest to them, with over half of respondents feeling stigmatised by their families who don’t understand why pain persists or provide unsolicited advice about how to treat it,” Nicolette says.
Forty-five per cent of survey respondents said they had experienced stigma from their GP, while 26 per cent said they have felt it from colleagues and 25 per cent from their employer.
“Many respondents experiencing stigma wished for more empathy from others,” Nicolette says.
“These respondents feel their chronic pain has become a mental health issue because of the stigma they face.”
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Therapies for treating chronic pain
Medicine, physiotherapy, exercise and meditation are common treatments for chronic pain.
But now a new Australian study on chronic back pain suggests sensorimotor retraining can also bring relief.
This is a treatment that retrains how the brain and the body communicate.
People with back pain are often told their back is vulnerable and needs protecting, says study author Professor James McAuley, from UNSW’s School of Health Sciences and NeuRA.
“This changes how we filter and interpret information from our back and how we move our back.
“Over time, the back becomes less fit, and the way the back and brain communicate is disrupted in ways that seem to reinforce the notion that the back is vulnerable and needs protecting,” Prof McAuley says.
Sensorimotor retraining breaks this cycle.
A recent Australian study also shows emotional freedom techniques can significantly reduce chronic pain.
This involves tapping certain points on the body to relieve pain and stress.
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Hope for people with chronic pain
Nicolette says there is increasingly positive news for people who live with chronic pain.
“More and more pain is being treated and managed in Australia with a biological, psychological and social treatment plan – meaning treatment of the whole person and all the aspects that pain impacts,” she says.
“But we need to keep pushing. Pain is the leading cause of disability in Australia and should be funded accordingly.”
Written by Karen Fittall.
