It could be that women can pick up on their partners' pain more accurately than men. However, our other study suggests that even though women may be more perceptive in detecting their partners' pain, they may need special training to help their spouses deal more effectively with that pain. Clinicians should be aware that there often are differences in the pain reporting of men and women, and sometimes pain therapy will need to be tailored differently according to the patient's gender. The fact that women may be more adept than men at perceiving their partners' pain or in employing coping skills to handle their own pain shouldn't be reduced to the simple statement that women handle pain better than men, Keefe warns. In fact, it may be that women are more open to using coping skills to deal with chronic pain because they may be more likely to have chronic pain.
Women are two to three times more likely to have chronic tension headaches than men.
Nearly two-thirds of the 43 million americans with arthritis are women. Of the 6 million americans with fibromyalgia, most are women. Researchers say they aren't sure what is causing this seemingly inequitable distribution, but strong evidence points to the role hormones, especially estrogen, play in the body's ability to modulate pain. Projects at Ohio University and elsewhere are investigating this gender effect, and the results may help scientists develop better pain management therapies for all people. In the meantime, Keefe suggests that approaching each patient's pain as a unique problem will allow health professionals to structure individualized therapy that may include medication, coping skills training, or a combination of the two.