Putting up with Pain

A Gallup survey performed for the Arthritis Foundation shows that most people who experience pain regularly do not seek medical attention until they cannot tolerate it any longer. Forty-two percent of adults say they experience pain every day, and 89 percent experience pain at least once a month. Nearly two-thirds of respondents see a doctor only when they cannot stand the pain any longer. The most common types of conditions are joint pain, backaches, sore feet, and muscle pain.

Only half of the respondents had seen a doctor for pain in the previous three years. Forty-three percent of those surveyed reported that pain keeps them from activities such as standing or waiting in line for long periods. Twenty-seven percent missed work within the past year due to pain.

The survey, performed last year and released in April 2000, found that women are more likely to experience daily pain than men (46 percent of women versus 37 percent of men). Women are also more likely to attribute their pain to the trials of balancing work and family life than men (35 percent of women versus 24 percent of men). Women are also 50 percent more likely to miss work because of pain than men.

Pain is considered "just something you have to live with" by 60 percent of the respondents, and fewer than half feel they have a "great deal of control" over their pain. Twenty-eight percent stated they "don't believe there is any real solution" for their pain.
The survey included 2,002 adults ó 1,002 women and 1,000 men. It was conducted by the Gallup Organization between May 21 and June 9, 1999. The survey's margin of error was estimated to be two percentage points.

(Source: Arthritis Foundation media release, April 6, 2000. www.arthritis.org.)