Pain Awareness Month: Turning Awareness Into Better Care

Pain Is a Personal Experience

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Its accompanying notes emphasize that pain is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors and that a person’s report of pain should be respected.

This understanding has important implications for clinical practice. Two patients with similar diagnoses or imaging findings may experience pain very differently. Pain intensity alone may not capture its effects on mobility, sleep, mood, relationships, employment, and quality of life.

Meaningful assessment therefore requires more than identifying where pain occurs. Clinicians must also consider how it affects function, what the patient hopes to regain, which treatments have already been attempted, and what barriers may influence the care plan.

Recognizing Disparities in Pain Care

The burden of chronic pain is not distributed evenly. CDC data have identified differences in the prevalence of chronic and high-impact chronic pain across demographic, geographic, socioeconomic, and health-status groups.

In the 2021 analysis, high-impact chronic pain was more prevalent among adults living in nonmetropolitan areas, those with lower family incomes, veterans, adults with disabilities, and individuals reporting poor overall health. These findings highlight the need to consider how geography, affordability, access to specialists, health literacy, and other social factors can shape a patient’s ability to receive appropriate care.

Awareness must therefore extend beyond recognizing that pain exists. It also means recognizing which patients may be more likely to experience delays, fragmented care, or limited access to treatment options.

Moving Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Pain management often involves complex clinical decisions that cannot be reduced to a single medication or intervention. The appropriate plan may include pharmacologic therapy, behavioral health support, physical rehabilitation, interventional treatment, complementary approaches, or a combination of strategies.

The CDC’s 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain emphasizes individualized, patient-centered decision-making and encourages clinicians to consider a range of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic options. It also cautions against applying recommendations as rigid standards that replace clinical judgment.

Similarly, the US Department of Health and Human Services Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force identified individualized, multimodal, and multidisciplinary care as central components of effective pain management.

For clinicians, this means weighing the available evidence alongside the patient’s diagnosis, treatment history, functional goals, comorbidities, preferences, and individual risks. The result should not be a standardized pathway for every patient, but a care plan developed through thoughtful assessment and shared decision-making.

Collaboration Is Part of the Treatment

Pain rarely fits neatly within the boundaries of one specialty. Depending on the patient’s needs, care may involve primary care clinicians, pain specialists, pharmacists, psychologists, physical therapists, social workers, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals.

When these clinicians work independently, patients may receive conflicting recommendations, repeat assessments, or experience gaps in follow-up. A coordinated approach can help the care team establish shared goals, evaluate progress, and adjust treatment as the patient’s needs change.

Collaboration also supports a more complete understanding of the patient. One clinician may recognize a medication-related concern, while another identifies functional limitations, behavioral factors, or social barriers affecting recovery. Bringing these perspectives together can strengthen clinical decision-making and reduce the risk of viewing pain through only one lens.

Turning Awareness Into Action

Pain Awareness Month is an important reminder that improving pain care depends on more than acknowledging the scale of the problem. It requires clinicians to continue examining new evidence, challenging assumptions, strengthening communication, and expanding the range of strategies available to patients.

Because pain medicine continues to evolve, ongoing education is essential. Clinicians must remain current on emerging pharmacologic therapies, interventional techniques, behavioral approaches, neuroscience, opioid stewardship, regulatory considerations, and the growing role of individualized care.

Continue the Conversation With PAINWeek Replay

The conversations highlighted during Pain Awareness Month do not end when September does. PAINWeek Replay gives clinicians year-round access to expert-led education addressing the decisions they encounter throughout pain practice.

With 65+ hours of on-demand content, 62.75 CME/CE credits, and 11 specialized tracks, Replay brings together sessions covering chronic pain management, behavioral pain care, interventional approaches, pharmacology, neuroscience, integrative care, compliance, and other essential areas of practice. Participants have through July 23, 2027, to complete the courses and claim available credits.

Each session is designed by clinicians for clinicians, with synced slides, audio, and video that can be accessed from any device. Participants can pause, return, and continue learning around their own clinical schedules, without the need for travel or time away from practice.

Pain Awareness Month creates the opportunity to recognize what better pain care requires. PAINWeek Replay provides the education to help put that commitment into practice.

Get PAINWeek Replay and start earning credits on your schedule.

Sources

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7215a1.htm

https://www.iasp-pain.org/resources/terminology/

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/rr/rr7103a1.htm

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/pmtf-final-report-2019-05-23.pdf