“One in four adults in the U.S. lives with chronic pain.” That number stopped me in my tracks. A new Medscape article titled “A Nation in Pain: Can New Approaches Turn the Tide?” lays bare what many of us already know: the chronic pain crisis is growing—and our systems aren’t keeping up. We’re not just…

Read more

Name of Study: “Differential treatment response to virtual reality in high-impact chronic pain: secondary analysis of a randomized trial”Published in Scientific Reports (2025)ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05263037 How the Study Was Done This study looked at how people with chronic low back pain responded to a virtual reality (VR) program that teaches pain relief skills. Over 1,000…

Read more

If you live with chronic pain, chances are you’ve wondered at some point:“Why did they pick that treatment?”“Why isn’t my pain taken seriously?”“Why didn’t they ask someone like me before deciding what works?” The truth is: for a long time, they didn’t ask us. But now they can. And they should.This article is about why…

Read more

Pain is invisible, yet it impacts every corner of life. Those of us who live with it know its unpredictability, its burden, and its complexity. But for too long, pain research has been done to us, not with us. A recent commentary in The Journal of Pain by Kathryn A. Birnie and Alexandra Neville reminds…

Read more

I’ve lived with chronic pain for over 37 years. It began after treatment for testicular cancer at 35 and has since expanded to include back, hip, groin, and abdominal pain, compounded by bladder cancer, arthritis, diabetes, and multiple heart attacks. Chronic pain is part of my every day—and every night. Over the years, I’ve learned…

Read more

If you live with chronic pain, you likely know the feeling of your calendar filling up with doctor visits, therapy sessions, lab tests, insurance calls, and follow-up appointments. It can feel like life is scheduled around pain—and worse, around the system meant to “help” you manage it. Many of us wake up already tired, already…

Read more

Living with chronic pain is not just a physical experience—it’s a daily emotional, mental, and social challenge. It can isolate us, wear down our resilience, and make even the smallest tasks feel overwhelming. But through mutual support, self-compassion, and community, we can build lives filled with meaning, connection, and strength. In this article, I’ll share…

Read more

Living with chronic pain is more than just a physical experience. For many, it’s deeply tied to trauma—whether from a single event or years of accumulated stress, fear, or neglect. Understanding this connection can help those of us living with pain find more compassionate care, better tools for healing, and a renewed sense of self-worth.…

Read more

When you twist your back, stub your toe, or wake up with post-surgical soreness, your first thought may be: How do I make the pain stop? But there’s another crucial question to ask: How do I make sure this pain doesn’t become chronic? Acute pain is your body’s alarm system, warning you that something’s wrong.…

Read more

Living with chronic pain is not just about managing symptoms—it’s about navigating a healthcare system that often feels fragmented, impersonal, and reactive. Too often, people living with chronic pain are passed from specialist to specialist, receive short-term fixes instead of long-term solutions, and are burdened with out-of-pocket costs for therapies that might actually improve their…

Read more

“I’m not just hurting. I’m exhausted, anxious, and sometimes I feel like I’m disappearing.” That sentence could come from anyone living with chronic pain—and often does. Pain doesn’t just settle in our joints, nerves, or muscles. It seeps into our sleep, our thoughts, our relationships, and our sense of self. And yet, the emotional and…

Read more

“It’s not just that it hurts — it’s that the pain makes everything harder. Getting dressed, making meals, seeing friends, even just thinking clearly. It’s not a bad day — it’s every day.” If you live with chronic pain, you may have heard a term that’s gaining attention in research and policy circles: high-impact chronic…

Read more

Living with chronic pain often feels like navigating a broken system—one focused on symptoms, not people. But there’s a model of care, developed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, that’s quietly revolutionizing how we approach pain. It’s called Whole Health, and despite being born in the VA, it offers powerful benefits for anyone facing…

Read more

A Patient-Friendly Summary What Was the Goal of the Study? The wHOPE Trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the VA’s Whole Health model in managing chronic pain among Veterans. Specifically, it compared different care approaches to determine which best improved pain interference, functioning, and quality of life. The central question: Can a comprehensive Whole…

Read more

A Patient-Friendly Summary What Was the Goal of the Study? The SBIRT-PM Trial—short for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment for Pain Management—aimed to determine whether a brief counseling approach could help Veterans applying for service-connected disability due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) manage chronic pain and reduce risky substance use.Oxford Academic+9painmanagementcollaboratory.org+9CenterWatch+9 The central question:…

Read more