One in five Canadians experience pain daily or four out of seven days a week, according to estimates. That number grows to one-third of those who are over sixty years old, an age group which is growing in Canada population. More of them will develop conditions such as arthritis or diabetes which can cause debilitating nerve pain.
Pain costs the economy
Besides personal misery, chronic pain is estimated to cost the economy about 15 billion dollars a year and that’s just for health care costs, and not losses in productivity. For these reasons there is a new focus on pain management in Canada.
‘A big gap in care’
“At the moment there is a big gap in care,” says Dr. Pat Morley-Forster, Director, Pain Management Program of St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ontario. “For instance, in some provinces there are no multi-disciplinary pain clinics at all. It varies. In larger cities there’s a bit more access.”
Chronic pain is complex and sometimes the cause cannot be detected, or the original cause is over and the pain persists. Chronic pain can be debilitating physically and emotionally and Morley-Forster says a team of specialists is best to treat it, including doctors, psychologists, physiotherapists and others. And she says doctors need better training.
New program to train doctors
“We know we have not done a good job of educating medical students and young doctors in chronic pain. And we hope to change that in July with the pain medicine residency that we’ll be rolling out across Canada,” says Morley-Forster, noting that the university she is affiliated with, Western University will be the first to offer a year-long training program.
Meanwhile patients can get local referrals and other help from a patient advocacy group called the Canadian Pain Coalition.
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