September is Pain Awareness Month, dedicated to helping people understand the challenges associated with chronic pain and emphasizing the need for better understanding, support and treatment options. Here, Allison Ferguson, APRN-CNP and Amanda Genet, APRN-CNP of Aultman Pain Management discuss how pain may affect people and what treatments are available.

Chronic pain affects almost a quarter of the adult population in the United States. The CDC reported in 2024 that 23.4% of adults have chronic pain. In fact, 8.5% of adults who have chronic pain report that it significantly limits their life and work. There are approximately 52 new chronic pain cases out of 1,000 patients per year – more than other health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

What is chronic pain?

Chronic pain can involve aching, burning, shooting, sharp and throbbing pain that persists for more than three months. It can be caused by issues in the nerves, organs or muscles or conditions such as arthritis. Trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, injuries, autoimmune disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and postherpetic neuralgia from shingles are some of the conditions that can lead to chronic pain.

Risk factors for chronic pain include genetics, aging, having a previous injury, stress, working a manual job, smoking and obesity.

Chronic pain is associated with:

• Decreased quality of life
• Increase in anxiety and depression
• Unmet mental health needs
• Possibility of opioid misuse

How is chronic pain diagnosed?

Pain can be diagnosed by X-rays, MRIs and other imaging and an electromyography (EMG), or nerve conduction study. Providers also use a pain score and pain surveys to help diagnose chronic pain.

Your provider might use pain injections to help diagnose the source of your pain. For example, you might have a “pinched nerve” – technically a foraminal stenosis – if you experience right leg pain that shoots down in front of your knee to your toes.

To determine whether that’s really the issue, your provider would consider giving a steroid injection at the lumbar site that commonly causes this type of pinched nerve. If you experience significant relief with this injection, your provider could conclude that the L4/L5 nerve on the right side was being pinched. But if the injection doesn’t relieve your symptoms, your provider would conclude the L4/L5 is not the source of your pain.

Treatments are developed using objective data from MRIs, X-rays and EMGs to support the diagnosis and plan moving forward.

How do you manage chronic pain?

The good news is that there is hope for chronic pain through pain management. Pain management specialists offer a variety of treatment options and services, including:

• Physical therapy and occupational therapy referrals
• Orders for imaging to help in diagnosis
• Trigger point injections
• Epidural steroid injections
• Joint steroid injections
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Minimally invasive lumbar decompression (MILD)
• Spinal cord stimulators
• Non-pharmacological options such as TENs units
• Pharmacological management which can include topical and oral medication
• Referrals as needed to other specialists such as orthopedics or rheumatologists or for counseling

You can reduce your risk for chronic pain by making lifestyle changes such as weight management, gentle stretching and exercise, good sleep habits, stopping smoking, reducing alcohol consumption and having a good support system.

We understand that chronic pain is a difficult journey. We look forward to being able to help you navigate the next steps. Our goal is to help you to have quality of life, and to live your life to the fullest the best we can.

Sources:
Lucas JW, Sohi I. NCHS Data Brief, No. 518, National Center for Health Statistics.
MedlinePlus
Nahin RL, Feinberg T, Kapos FP, Terman GW. JAMA Network Open
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