By Gill Coetsee. September is Pain Awareness Month—a time to recognise not only the prevalence of pain, but also the profound impact it can have on how people live, work, connect and participate in the things that give their lives meaning.
As healthcare providers, it is easy to focus on the number: How severe is your pain today? Pain intensity is important, but it is only one part of the story. Two people can experience the same level of pain and have vastly different experiences of disability, participation and quality of life. Conversely, someone may report severe pain while continuing to engage meaningfully in family, work and community life.
Pain is multidimensional. It is influenced by biological, psychological, social, spiritual and contextual factors, including but not limited to a person’s beliefs, experiences, environment and sense of safety. When we fail to recognise this complexity, we risk reducing pain care to a single goal: making the pain go away.
But what happens when reducing pain intensity is not immediately possible? Or the pain persists?
Lives can become smaller. A person may stop working, withdraw from family and friends, abandon hobbies, avoid activities they once enjoyed or lose confidence in their ability to participate. Over time, the consequences of pain can extend far beyond the physical sensation itself. Identity, independence, relationships, purpose and quality of life may all be affected.
This is where healthcare providers have an important role to play. Effective pain care requires us to look beyond the pain score and ask: What has pain taken away from this person’s life, and what matters enough to them that we can help them work towards reclaiming it?
This requires a team approach. No single profession can address all the dimensions of pain. The team may include healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists and pharmacists, as well as exercise professionals, spiritual or religious leaders, and others who are important to the individual. Working collaboratively allows us to understand the whole person and address their needs rather than treating isolated symptoms. Occupational therapy has a particularly important contribution to make because meaningful occupation is central to health and wellbeing. Returning to valued activities, rebuilding routines, adapting environments, developing confidence and finding ways to participate despite pain can be powerful therapeutic goals. Importantly, this does not mean ignoring pain or suggesting that people should simply “push through” it. Rather, it means helping people understand their pain, develop effective strategies, gradually restore function and reconnect with what matters to them. Pain care should therefore not be measured only by whether pain intensity has decreased. Success may also mean returning to work, playing with a child, preparing a meal, attending a social event, sleeping better, resuming a hobby or simply feeling more in control of one’s life.
This Pain Awareness Month, let us broaden the conversation. Each week of September IASP will focus on four interconnected approaches to deepening understanding of pain and translating this knowledge into improved research, education, and care.
https://www.iasp-pain.org/advocacy/pain-awareness-month
Pain is real. Pain is complex. And the goal of pain care is not simply to reduce pain—it is to help people reclaim meaningful, fulfilling lives.