At least some of us reading this will have a chronic pain syndrome, most of us know someone who lives with chronic pain, or we might be the friend, relative or carer of a person who suffers with chronic pain sufferer. In any case, chronic pain takes a huge toll on people's lives, and a high proportion of those people will be women. This article was written in February 1999.
Chronic pain is very different to acute pain.
The latter reflects acute injury, and goes away when an injury heals up. Chronic pain, by definition, doesn't go away. It lingers, even when an injury heals. Nor are we talking about chronic cancer pain. Most simply, pain is what hurts.