People visit a doctor for pain more than for any other symptom.
Some pain is acute, meaning that it will resolve rather quickly, but much of it is chronic, present for long periods of time even though an injury is long healed or many kinds of treatment have been tried. For many people who feel chronic pain, the suffering is continuous. Waking and sleeping, they are preoccupied with it. They want it removed by any means. Often, surgery is tried, sometimes more than once.