OVER a quarter of people(26%) in Spain suffer from chronic pain- meaning that nine million live with it every day.
The figures were released by the Spanish Pain Society(SED) to coincide with Friday’s World Pain Day.
Experts believe all doctors should get more training over treating pain and extra specialist ‘pain units’ should be set up.
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Women tend to suffer more than men and research suggests that a female with an average age of 51 have the highest propensity to get pain.
Chronic lower back pain is one of the main problems.
Research shows that 30% of sufferers have significant social and work limitations; 28% have anxiety and 22% have depression.
SED president, Maria Madariaga, said: “The definition of chronic pain is a persistent pain that happens for at least four or five days a week which has been present for at least three months and not been resolved by treatment.”
“It is a public health problem of the first order that affects millions of adults in Spain, who experience a decrease in their health and social and work independence,” she added.
The World Health Organisation has classified different kinds of chronic pain.
There is primary which is considered a disease in itself and cannot be better explained by another pathology and secondary which comes a symptom of another disease.
That covers many things including cancer pain, post-surgical or post-traumatic pain, neuropathic pain, and chronic musculoskeletal pain which comes from bones, joints, muscles, spine or soft tissues.
Maria Madariaga said that primary care is vital to deal with pain through medicines but says physiotherapy and psychology area essential elements of a ‘needed multidisciplinary vision’ that pain treatment needs.
“The approach to the chronicity of pain in public health is not good,” Madariaga added.
According to the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), 50% of people with chronic pain receive insufficient treatment.
A third do not even receive treatment, which is usually related to multiple areas: traumatology, physiotherapy, internal medicine, rehabilitation, neurology, rheumatology, neurosurgery, oncology and psychology.
SED experts suggest the creation of more pain units ‘since there are patients who take years to arrive’ and greater training in chronic pain for all doctors.
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