Series: The Burden Of…Neck Pain…

1 in 2 people will experience neck pain at some point in their lives (4).  Neck pain is most common in middle-aged people and tends to affect women more than men (1).  Up to one-third of people with neck pain are chronic sufferers (their neck pain has lasted more than three months) (1; 3).   Alternative therapies, when combined with active treatment and postural correction, have shown to significantly reduce neck pain (4).  Dr. Roberta Chow’s own systematic review of published research on cold laser for neck pain showed 80% of patients had at least 50% improvement in their pain on a sustained basis.  Low level laser therapy (also known as cold laser) is not new but is not as widely known in Australia as in other parts of the world. We know how it works and why it can nearly always lead to long standing or sustained improvement in the underlying condition. 

Many people who suffer from chronic pain face difficulties when seeking treatment.  Medical professionals who specialise in pain management are currently only able to meet the needs of 20% of pain sufferers (2).  Chronic pain sufferers report that health professionals who do not specialise in pain management do not treat pain as an illness and, consequently, their condition is often not taken seriously (2). This is a topic that advocacy groups such as painaustralia and Chronic Pain Australia are attempting to remedy by engaging with government at the highest levels. Recognition of pain as a disease in its own right is of paramount importance as a first step if Australia is to combat the ‘pain epidemic’ that is plaguing not only our country but much of the western world. 

References

1. https://www.painmanagement.org.au/2014-09-11-13-34-03/2014-09-11-13-35-16/273-what-is-causing-my-neck-pain.html
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2271099/pdf/586_2008_Article_624.pdf
3. https://www.painmanagement.org.au/2014-09-11-13-34-03/what-is-chronic-pain.html
4. https://www.painaustralia.org.au/media/newsletters/issue-76/relieving-australias-pain-burden
5. https://www.painaustralia.org.au/about-pain/painful-facts