The Pain Epidemic Analysis

Importantly, when an individual’s movements are limited by their discomfort, their ability to work, perform daily tasks around the home and engage socially can all be disrupted. Consequently, their lives can become more restricted both in terms of the way they spend their time as well as their financial stability in light of reduced income from changes in employment. Whether pain is acute or chronic, pain robs people of their productivity, their well-being, and, some individuals suffering from extended illness, their very lives. The financial toll of what might be labeled as an epidemic is tremendous. A report funded by the Institute of Medicine pegs the cost in the neighborhood of $600 billion a year (Gaskin and Richard, 2011). This cost
doesn’t even begin to take into account the challenges one person’s pain presents to family, friends, and health care providers who often offer and comfort to that individual.