Pain
in America: Highlights from a Gallup Survey
- Nine
in 10 Americans aged 18 and older (89%)
suffer from pain at least once a month.
- Forty-three
percent of adults-a projected 83
million-report that pain frequently
affects their participation in some
activities.
- Fewer
than half (43%) of respondents report they
have a "great deal of control"
over their pain.
- One
in four Americans (23%) experience joint
pain daily or every few days and 18%
report suffering pain from arthritis, a
disease that affects areas in or around
the joints.
- More
than 26 million Americans (15%) who suffer
pain monthly have severe pain.
- More
than half (55%) of Americans aged 65 and
older have pain daily.
- Older
Americans (age 65 and older) are most
likely to cite getting older (88%) and
arthritis (69%) as causes of their pain.
Younger Americans (aged 18 to 34), on the
other hand, are more likely to say tension
or stress (73%), overwork or overexertion
(64%) or their lifestyle (51%) cause their
pain.
- Eighty
percent of Americans believe their aches
and pains are "just part of getting
older" and 28 percent believe there
is no solution to their pain.
Chronic
pain is a term given to a variety of
conditions that can cause frequent, continuous
pain lasting several months or longer,
including arthritis; chronic fatigue syndrome;
fibromyalgia; headaches; back, neck and
shoulder pain; and temporomandibular joint
syndrome (TMJ). While most chronic pain
sufferers have traditionally taken
prescription drugs or over-the-counter
medications to ease their suffering, studies
show that increasing numbers of people have
begun turning toward more natural, less
invasive methods of pain relief.
For
many people acupuncture is an effective means
of relieving pain. This may be particularly
true for back pain and headache pain. Other
types of pain that may be helped by
acupuncture include arthritis (both
osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis),
musculoskeletal injuries (like to the neck,
shoulder, knee, or elbow), fibromyalgia,
carpal tunnel syndrome, labor pain, and
cancer-related pain. How acupuncture relieves
pain is not entirely clear-cut, but there are
many theories based on scientific principles.
Source:
www.arthritis.org |
