I was nine years old when I damaged the ligaments in my left leg in a hurdling accident.After a year of treatment my leg hadn't healed – in fact the pain had worsened and I was diagnosed with chronic regional pain syndrome. 
In 1962 at the age of 21, Renée was involved in a serious car accident that kept her in an English hospital - in a 40-bed geriatric ward - for nearly two years.
Before my accident, about six years ago, I worked at a prestige car dealership in Brisbane. This work was physically demanding as well as being quite social. We all had to get on well as it could be quite a pressured environment and humour often kept us going.
I woke up one morning in 1988 with a sore back.As the pain continued to increase, I consulted my general practitioner who referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. After some tests, I was told that there were no problems and that the pain should go away. It didn't.
My first taste of pain and injury was when I was only three years old.We had a car accident and I had my lower lumbar joints damaged as well as whiplash injuries to my neck. No one knew this at the time, though, and by the time I was nine I was having X-rays on my back to find out why I was in so much pain.
I first incurred a serious back injury at work in 1985. It was not able to be evidence-based for five years (at the time of surgery).
Harry Perkins, son of Olympic champion swimmer and Painaustralia Director Kieren Perkins OAM, was diagnosed with chronic migraine at the tender age of eleven.
My problems started in the early 1980s with the introduction of computers in most public service departments.In 1986,
I was an advisory teacher when I suffered a spinal injury in 2007 that landed me in a Brisbane hospital emergency department.Thanks to a neurosurgeon, I regained the use of my left leg and the crushing pain eased. 
It was during a long jump attempt at my school's athletics try-outs when I was nine that I first hurt myself.As usual, I ran and jumped but as I hit the sand I felt pain in what I thought was my ankle.
Breast cancer is a diagnosis heard all too often these days at 13,000 diagnoses a year in Australia.
As a chronic migraine sufferer I've lived with pain since I was a small child. With the help of sub-occipital electrodes and an implanted pulse generator (IPG implant) I can now manage my daily pain and rely less on heavy medications.
My injury happened over two days – August 30-31, 2001 – when I was asked to reorganise the office's new filing system.
I'd survived the traumas of a major motor car accident, the ignominity of a prostatectomy, and the despair and exasperation of three separate cancers and their harsh therapies, but nothing had prepared me for the greatest challenge of my life, dealing with chronic pain
"Fortunately", the pain from my neck injury was so severe that it was taken seriously from the start.
September 23, 2006 was a beautiful, still, sunny autumn day.I was in the UK to visit my elderly mother and other family members and had taken the train to London to visit a friend.
I injured my neck in 1993 while attending a Scout Jamboree in Canada as a carer for a child with cerebral palsy.My pain symptoms didn't really show up until 1997 when I started getting lots of neck and arm pain. 
I had two major cycling accidents in the 1980s which caused a spinal fracture and severe whiplash.I quickly got over the accidents and was fine until the early 1990s when I started to have migraines. This gradually progressed to daily migraines by 1996.
That Friday in June 1990 began like any other Friday – two adults, three teenagers, family pets, all heading out. I was totally unaware that this was the day "Super Mum" would die and life as I knew it would be over.
6 when I was 17. Unrelated to any incident, I began to experience extreme back pain. I later discovered it was a degenerative disease with no cure, but at the time I thought it could just be 'fixed'.
It happened on 28 August 2008 at 8.28am. Everything after that is a bit of a blur, but the moment the accident happened will be stuck in my memory forever.
Research
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"Despite the growing recognition of the problem of persistent pain, clinical and research attention has often focused on understanding and treating the disease underlying the pain. This reflects a historical view of pain as a nonspecific symptom of a disease process." - Persistent Pain as a Disease Entity, Paper by Siddall and Cousins, 2004 |
There is a growing body of research into pain, both internationally and in Australia. Following are some key research papers:
Current Research
For healthcare professionals with an interest in cancer pain, a new project aims to develop an Australian guideline and implementation strategy on pain management for people living with cancer. If you would like to contribute to the project, contact Project Coordinator Dr Tim Luckett on 02 9514 4861.
International Papers
- Polymorphisms in the glucocorticoid receptor co-chaperone FKBP5 predict persistent musculoskeletal pain after traumatic stress exposure - Bortsov AV et al, Pain 29 April 2013
- Structural modelling and mutant cycle analysis predict pharmacoresponsiveness of a Nav1.7mutant channel - Yang Yang, Sulayman D. Dib-Hajj, Jian Zhang, Yang Zhang, Lynda Tyrrell, Mark Estacion & Stephen G. Waxman, Nature Communicatinos; 13 Nov 2012
- Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research, released 29 June 2011
- Pain Management Task Force Final Report May 2010, US Office of the Army Surgeon General
- Back pain in older male Italian-born immigrants in Australia: The importance of socioeconomic factors (European Journal of Pain)
- Management of chronic (non-cancer) pain in Quebec
- Action plan for the organisation and delivery of chronic pain services in Nova Scotia (Nova Scotia Chronic Pain Working Group)
- Pain medicine position paper in the US
- Concept paper - a regional strategy for optimal pain management and sustainability (Vancouver Coastal Health Regional Pain Management Strategy Core Team)
- The need for knowledge translation in chronic pain (James L Henry)
Australian Papers
- Improving coordination of care between specialist and general practice for people with chronic pain - Geoffrey Mitchell MJA (198) 6: 2-3. 1 April 2013.
- Depression and Physical Illness - Alex Holmes, Nicholas Christelis, Carolyn Arnold MJA Open 2012; 1 Suppl 4: 17-20
- System Plasticity and Integrated Care: Informed Consumers Guide Clinical Reorientation and System Reorganization - Dr Stephanie Davies, Dr Chris Hayes and Dr John Quinter
- Preclinic Group Education Sessions Reduce Waiting Times and Costs at Public Pain Medicine Units - Dr Stephanie Davies et al.
- What is pain, Prof Michael J Cousins AM
- Randomised controlled trial of Alexander technique lessons, exercise, and massage for chronic and recurrent back pain - Paul Little, George Lewith, et al.
- Preclinic Group Education Sessions Reduce Waiting Times and Costs at Public Pain Medicine Units - Pain Medicine The American Academy of Pain Medicine
- Waiting in pain: a systematic investigation into the provision of persistent pain services in Australia - The Medical Journal of Australia
- Opioid prescribing in Australian general practice - The Medical Journal of Australia
- Stigmatization of Patients with Chronic Pain: The Extinction of Empathy - Pain Medicine, The American Academy of Pain Medicine
- An Evolutionary Stress-Response Hypothesis for Chronic Widespread Pain (Fibromyalgia Syndrome) - Pain Medicine, The American Academy of Pain Medicine
- Maldynia: Pathophysiology and Non-pharmacologic Treatment, Report 5 of the Council on Science and Public Health
- Pain Medicine and Its Models: Helping or Hindering? - Pain Medicine Clincial Note (John L. Quintner, Milton L. Cohen, David Buchanan, James D Katz, Owen D Williamson)
- System Plasticity and Integrated Care: Informed Consumers Guide Clinical Reorientation and System Reorganization - Pain Medicine (Stephanie J Davies, Christopher Hayes, John L Quintner)
- Preclinic Group Education Sessions Reduce Waiting Times and Costs at Public Pain Medicine Units - Pain Medicine
- Chronic pain in Australia: a prevalence study (Fiona M Blyth, Lyn M March, Alan J M Brnabic, Louisa R Jorm, Margaret Williamson, Michael J Cousins)
- Prognosis in patients with onset low back pain in Australia primary care (Nicholas Henschke, Christopher G Maher, Kathryn M Refshauge, Robert D Herbert, Robert G Cumming, Jane Bleasel, John York, Anurina Das, James H McAuley)
- Pain relief as a human right (Michael J Cousins, Frank Brennan, Daniel B Carr)
- Persistent pain as a disease entity: implications for clinical management (Philip J Siddall, Michael J Cousins)
- Self-management of chronic pain: a population-based study (Fiona M Blyth, Lyn M March, Michael K Nicholas, Michael J Cousins)