ABC News Poll Shows Nearly 4 in 10 American Adults Suffer From Pain on a Regular Basis

More than half of Americans live with chronic or recurrent pain, with broad numbers saying it interferes with their activities, mood and enjoyment of life — sparking a vast search for relief, from medication to bed rest, yoga or the palliative power of prayer.

An exclusive survey by ABC News, USA Today and the Stanford University Medical Center finds that, excluding minor annoyances, just under half of adults have experienced pain in the last two weeks, and nearly four in 10 do so on a regular basis.

Six in 10 Americans rate their last experience with pain as moderate or worse, and for two in 10 — about 40 million individuals — it was severe. Nineteen percent suffer chronic pain, meaning ongoing pain that's lasted three months or more. An additional 34 percent report recurrent pain; the rest say their usual pain experience is acute, or short-term.

Sizable majorities of those who've tried various relief therapies report that they work at least somewhat well — ranging from medications to heating pads or ice packs to less prevalent methods such as massage therapy, seeing a chiropractor, or homeopathic and herbal remedies. But many fewer say any of these work "very well." Even prescription drugs fall short: While six in 10 Americans have taken prescription drugs for pain, just 51 percent of them say such medications have worked very well.

Over-the-counter-drugs and home remedies (heating pads, ice packs, hot baths or showers) are the most commonly used pain therapies among all Americans, with more than eight in 10 having tried them. About six in 10 have used prescription drugs, bed rest or, as noted, prayer.

This ABC News/USA Today/Stanford University Medical Center poll was conducted by telephone April 13-19, 2005, among a random national sample of 1,204 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS Intersearch of Horsham, Pa.

Courtesy of ABC News 5/9/2005

Steve - Managing diet and stress has everything to do with chronic pain. We have also found that daily omega-3 fish oil supplementation (dosage dependent upon severity of pain) is helpful because it keeps the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio at 2 or 3:1.