28 million people in the UK experience chronic pain (pain that has lasted longer than 3 months), with an estimated 5.5 million people in England alone experiencing high-impact chronic pain: meaning the person struggles to take part in daily activities.
Those living with chronic pain seek the support of health and care services at a much higher rate than those who do not. As well as being frequent attenders, people with chronic pain frequently report poor outcomes/experiences when accessing healthcare, despite the best efforts of health and care providers.
Unfortunately, although chronic pain is common, it’s widely misunderstood. This represents an additional challenge, not only for those people affected by it, but also those health and care professionals tasked with supporting them.
Flippin’ Pain is a public health campaign sharing the latest scientific understanding of pain with the people who need it the most. Or, as we like to put it, flippin’ the way people think about, talk about, and treat chronic pain.