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.
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. 
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.
My problems started in the early 1980s with the introduction of computers in most public service departments.In 1986,
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.
Harry Perkins, son of Olympic champion swimmer and Painaustralia Director Kieren Perkins OAM, was diagnosed with chronic migraine at the tender age of eleven.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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 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. 
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. 
My injury happened over two days – August 30-31, 2001 – when I was asked to reorganise the office's new filing system.
Video Material
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"Older people with chronic pain may have mobility problems and cognitive impairment, and people with chronic pain generally are at risk of comorbid mental illness, social isolation, family breakdown and loss of income as a direct result of their pain." - National Pain Strategy, 2010 |
Insight SBS - Accidental Addicts
The SBS Insight program " Accidental Addicts" highlighted the urgent need to implement Australia's National Pain Strategy.The increasing use of pain medications, including opioids for chronic pain, could be stemmed by improving access to multi-disciplinary pain services, for people with chronic pain, especially in regional and rural Australia.
ABC News -Chronic pain patients advised to take action
The University of Virginia's Professor David Morris is visiting Canberra and says chronic pain sufferers should take control of managing their conditions
Ten News - Painful Epidemic
Chronic pain affects millions of Australians and costs our economy 34 billion dollars a year
7.30 Report - Australia faces silent epidemic of chronic pain
Chronic pain is one of Australia's most expensive health problems, costing our economy around $34 billion every year. Yet there's only a handful of clinics that specialise in treating pain. It might surprise you to learn that these days, pain isn't just considered a symptom, but a chronic disease in itself. Even so, most medical professionals still aren't trained to deal with it. Today, the New South Wales Government committed $26 million towards developing new pain management services, but that will only meet a fraction of the need.
Tonic TV - The Pain of Explaining Pain
The human body is fragile and we'll all experience pain throughout our lives. Sometimes it will be mild and sometimes severe and in order to get the right treatment for the type of pain you have you need to be able to communicate to your doctor exactly what type of pain it is and what level of pain you're in. Karen Carey finds out how best to explain the pain.
Life Before Death Series
LIFE Before Death documentary series about the global crisis in untreated pain and the dramatic life changing effect palliative care services can deliver to patients and their families around the world.
LIFE Before Death comprises 50 short films themed around pain control and end of life issues, releasing one a week for a year from May 2011.
The project is presented by the Lien Foundation and produced by Moonshine Movies. It is also supported by The International Association for the Study of Pain, The Mayday Fund, The Union for International Cancer Control and The Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice International Programs.
View six of the 50 short films below.
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Life before deathTORTURE IN HEALTHCARE |
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Understanding Pain: What to do about it in less than five minutes?
Patients are being warned that medication may not be the answer to their pain in a new video launched by a Medicare Local. The Hunter Urban Medicare Local which covers the Hunter Valley region and Newcastle in NSW has teamed up with Hunter New England Local Health District to create a video about the management of chronic pain.
The five minute video called Understanding Pain which suggests a change in diet and lifestyle could help reduce chronic pain, has had more than 60,000 hits on YouTube and has been translated into Spanish, Danish and Norwegian. Watch the video
7:30 Report - Painful Reality Patients Let Down
Professor Michael Cousins, head of anaesthetics and pain management at Sydney University based at Royal North Shore Hospital, spoke with Kerry O'Brien from ABC's The 7.30 Report about pain management.
National Pain Summit
