Pain Awareness Month

There are quite a few of what some people would call, ‘invisible’ ailments knocking about. Arthritis is one such ailment. There are others of course. More often than not, you wouldn’t know if you were in the company of an arthritis sufferer. It is not blatantly obvious. People with arthritis experience a range of symptoms, from joint stiffness to extreme tiredness and pain as well of course. However, pain can be the most difficult symptom for many people. This Pain Awareness Month is something that many sufferers are aware of but it isn’t as widely known as maybe it should be. So, in this post, a quick mention of Pain Awareness Month as there are no doubt pain sufferers here in Chester as well as other places.

This is a subject very close to my own heart being an arthritis sufferer myself. I mention this simply from the viewpoint that I know what it’s like, so my awareness is more than just a theory.

What is Pain Awareness Month?

Pain Awareness Month is a global initiative to highlight the challenges faced by those living with chronic pain and the importance of better support and management.

Each year, the British Pain Society (BPS), alongside the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), aim to raise public awareness around pain by highlighting topics such as:

• pain management
• the experiences of people living with pain
• and the great work of pain professionals.

For Pain Awareness Month 2024, the BPS is focussing on a unified approach across the UK to improve pain management, raise awareness, and empower those affected.

#MyPainStory encourages people to share their personal experience of living with chronic pain.

You can join the BPS in raising awareness, sharing stories, and supporting those living with chronic pain across the UK.Find out how to get involvedLearn more about Pain Awareness Month

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain – pain which has lasted for more than three months – affects between 18.4 million (34%) and 28 million people (43%) in the UK.

74% of people with musculoskeletal conditions report pain as impacting on their lives. Pain can affect many different parts of our body and around eight in every ten people (84%) with chronic pain in England say that at least some of their chronic pain is in areas where the pain is most likely to be musculoskeletal.Find out more by reading the State of Musculoskeletal Health 2024

Everybody’s pain is different, and people with chronic pain typically experience several different kinds of pain. In my case, as I have three different types of arthritis (greedy aren’t I) affecting various areas of my body, I can say an emphatic “Yes” to all those areas in the image above. And more!!

Pain is complex and is affected by many different factors. Alongside biological causes, psychological factors such as thoughts and feelings, personal relationships and lifestyle, can also affect chronic pain. However, we currently don’t know which of these factors are most important, or how they combine to affect people’s overall experience of pain.

Pain can affect how we move, think, sleep and feel, along with our ability to spend time with loved ones.

There is a real need for pain research to help understand what causes and influences people’s experience of pain. This will help to find effective treatments, with fewer side effects.

By further developing our understanding of pain and finding new ways to treat and prevent it, we can push back against the impact chronic pain has on people with arthritis.

What can be done to tackle pain?

Versus Arthritis has made a long-standing commitment to tackle pain by funding world-leading research and supporting people living with pain. This includes the Pain Centre Versus Arthritis and the Advanced Pain Discovery Platform (APDP).

Organisation like Versus Arthritis are at the forefront of helping arthritis sufferers. It is well worth visiting their website and signing up for their newsletter.

For those that don’t suffer from arthritis I hope you never have to endure suffering. But, even if you are not a sufferer, an awareness may well be worth noting. Who knows, the next time you see someone who is think is scowling at you, the grimace on their face may be something totally different. It could be an expression of pain.

Chester Lifestyle Blog Posts

Thanks for visiting my Chester Lifestyle website and thanks for reading my latest blog post – Pain Awareness Month. A situation that will not affect everyone but at least having an awareness could go a very long way towards a better understanding. 

To see all of my other blog posts on a variety of topics, then visit HERE.

And going off on a complete tangent and as this is Chester related website. Here’s the “help support a local small business” section. 

As This Is A Chester Related Website

As this is a Chester related website, you may be looking for the ideal Chester related gift for your loved ones. If so, then have a look at my Chester section of my new Etsy store. You can find out more about my Etsy store HERE.

Plenty of originally created downloadable digital artwork for you to have a look at HERE. And, as I say, a variety of Chester related products to choose from. Like this artwork image of Chester Bandstand in The Groves: