Chronic Pain Remains a Burden for Arthritis Patients

Chronic pain is characteristic of many diseases, including arthritis. Reportedly, 75 million Americans live with some type of chronic or recurrent pain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that 46.4 million of adults have self-reported, doctor-diagnosed arthritis. By the year 2030, about 67 million adults aged 18 years and older will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis.

Chronic pain is a somewhat self-explanatory term -- it's pain that doesn't go away. While researchers have worked for decades to learn more about chronic pain and find better ways of managing chronic pain, expensive medications seem to just take the edge off for many arthritis patients. Too many arthritis patients still long for better pain management. An interesting article on LiveScience.com points out there are still huge gaps when it comes to figuring out the best treatment for an individual patient. Is medication best? Which medication? Should you consider joint surgery? Is there an option that lies in alternative medicine?

When you consider what we do know about pain, it becomes obvious that there's still a lot we don't know. Pain has been defined as "an unpleasant sensation and emotional response to that sensation." But there's more than that to know about pain. For example, did you know chronic pain shrinks our brain? Did you know that women feel more pain than men and that some animals feel no pain? Researchers will continue to study chronic pain and search for more answers. In the meantime, look at all of your options when searching for the best pain management technique. A combination of medication and non-medication options seems most effective for the majority of arthritis patients.

Related Resources:

• Ways to Manage Your Pain
• Pain Tolerance Varies Among Arthritis Patients
• 10 Ways to Increase Your Pain
• The Pain Relief Quiz

_{Photo by Steve Rabin (iStockphoto)}