Part 1 of Why Are You Living In The Midst Of A Lower Body Pain Pandemic: We Are Normalising Pain

You have lived your entire life in the middle of a pain pandemic, that almost no one talks about. We suffer terribly with pain and disability, even (some say especially) in the world's wealthiest countries. Large population based studies indicate that somewhere between 30-50% of people in developed countries suffer with chronic pain. The researchers behind these studies predict a steady increase in these rates of pain due to our increasingly sedentary lifestyle and an aging population.

How Much Pain Are We talking About? An Awful Lot!

It is hard for anything to compete with the likes of refined sugar, smoking and alcohol in terms of impact on societal wellness. The impact these highly lethal yet culturally sanctioned products have on our health makes for disturbing reading. But you might be surprised how competitive chronic pain can be. Pain is a legitimate major public health issue, especially when you take into account … - All the pain, in and of itself. -All the physical disabilities associated with chronic pain. - The financial cost to society through the loss of productivity, impact on our individual careers and healthcare spending created by chronic pain. - The well documented (and completely awful) impact chronic pain has on mental health. - The incredibly serious mental and physical impact of pain medications have on pain sufferers. Including the shocking death toll of opioid based pain medications in certain developed nations - The well documented interaction of chronic pain and poverty. - The common and tragic illicit drug addiction that can arise from chronic pain (this is a huge topic in the US). - The death toll on operating tables, the failed surgeries and post surgical infections. -The fact that chronic pain can wreak havoc on close relationships. -The serious long term harm done to people's cardiovascular system through forced inactivity (this is an extremely common and and largely untold epidemiological story that impacts a very significant number of people) It is very difficult to put total numbers on the amount of heel pain, ankle pain, ankle sprains, iliotibial band pain, knee pain, hip pain, plantar fasciitis and back pain that we suffer with in our society. Such is the enormity of this situation we don't stand much of a chance in effectively unifying the statistics. In reality though, the data on individual complaints easily speaks to the bigger grimmer picture. The data on back pain alone is indicative of a profoundly serious global healthcare issue.