By Danielle Smith, Keystone State News Connection
April is National Stress Awareness Month. Stress is the body’s way of processing work, personal and family pressures, or other triggers.
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a link between stress and chronic pain, which is defined as pain that persists for three months or more and lasts beyond the normal healing time of an injury or illness.
Sean Pastuch, founder and CEO of Active Life, a personal coaching company focusing on chronic pain options, said it is important for Pennsylvanians to know that biological, psychological, and social interventions could be effective forms of treatment.
“The connection between all of those three things — the physical, the mental, and the emotional — is that when we think about ‘pain,’ no one’s defining what the word means,” Pastuch explained. “If we evaluate what the word ‘pain’ means, then we come to find that in order for there to be pain, there needs to be a negative emotional component to it.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pennsylvania reports that 31%, or more than 2.95 million Pennsylvania adults, were told by a doctor that they have arthritis. The study showed that depression and anxiety caused by chronic pain may contribute to a poor quality of life and reduce life expectancy.
A 2023 report from the Pennsylvania Chronic Care Policy Alliance revealed that nearly 16% of adults described their health as poor or fair due to chronic pain. Hypertension remains the most prevalent chronic condition in the state, affecting nearly 36% of adults.
Patients often struggle to find a physician who can accurately diagnose their pain, leading to fewer opportunities for treatment, as Pastuch pointed out.
“The reason why doctors struggle to help people with chronic pain and why the confidence level among doctors is low is because of all the medical schools, fewer than 15, actually have dedicated curriculum to supporting a patient with chronic pain,” Pastuch noted.
Pastuch suggested that when a patient is with their doctor, they should use words other than, “It just hurts.” They need to be able to describe what hurts and ask, “How do I want to resolve it?”
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Source: bctv